Scarred Vision
by lordtrayus
Summary: When Sam and Dean, now moved in to their bunker home, receive a call from an old friend they dont realise that two powerful organisations, the FBI and the secretive Perpurigo, are lying in wait to trap and destroy them once and for all. As the body count in Brandon mounts, the boys struggle to defeat this new foe of theirs, and finally learn the face of their enemy... Post 8x13
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural**

Scarred Vision

"Sammy? Where are you?" Dean called as he walked through the bunker, on yet another quest to find his little brother.

"Down here!" came the vague cry of response, and Dean rolled his eyes.

"Sammy I'm good but I'm not that good. Where's down here? Which aisle?" he called again.

"No idea, the aisle where these books I'm reading is." Sam said unhelpfully, and Dean sighed in bemusement. He knew he should have gotten the kid a lead.

"Marco!" Dean called irritably.

"Polo!" Sam yelled and Dean continued the game until he finally found his brother down yet another aisle of books, which was marked with the number 5C.

"How difficult would it have been to come down to the end and tell me which aisle I was looking for?" Dean asked grumpily and Sam grinned.

"That would have been no fun!" he said cheerfully, and Dean shook his head.

"You're such a child." Dean scolded, and Sam grinned widely.

"You weren't saying that yesterday when you were beating me at hide and seek." He reminded him, and Dean grinned.

"Yeah good point. This place is so awesome! We can act our age here!" he said excitedly, making Sam grin more.

"Yeah, your mental age but I do get it, it means we can relax." He said, and Dean nodded.

"Yep, and best of all, no demons, angels, or bald scratched out eyes dudes trying to kill us. Anyway, what you doing down here geek boy?" he asked, peering at the book that Sam was reading and was apparently to engrossing to assist his brother in finding him.

"It's a bestiary the Men of Letters were writing of everything they'd encountered. There's entries of all sorts of stuff, even golems like the one we just dealt with, Gorgons, Rakashasas, werewolves, all sorts of things."

"And what, you were hoping you'd find the bald dudes in there?" Dean asked and Sam shrugged, looking sheepish.

"Well, I was at first but then I got distracted reading about everything in here, there's things in here we've never encountered. But there's stuff we've encountered that isn't here, so..." Sam said leadingly, and Dean smirked.

"So what, you're giving yourself a project to bring this book up to date? For future generations of Men of Letters, for future hunters?" he asked and he could tell by the hesitant expression on Sam's face that that was exactly what he wanted to do.

"You're such a nerd. But no, seriously, it's a good idea. I mean we can't go running around getting killed for the rest of our lives, one day we're going to have to bite the bullet and do what Bobby used to do. I can answer the phones and you can do all the research and running around!" he said brightly, clapping Sam's shoulder, and Sam grinned.

"And that's different from now how?" he asked, making Dean poke him in the head.

"Smart ass. So what isn't in there?" he asked, and Sam pressed the book into his hands, like a kid showing off a homework project he was proud of, which he guessed he kind of was.

"Look, no angels, no Leviathans, no Jefferson Starships obviously, no Khan worms, couple of other things we've met that need to go in it, and there's plenty of pages for it to go in." He said excitedly, making Dean grin.

It was nice seeing Sam get so excited by all this. For so long, both of them had been so unenthused by hunting, fed up of the constant fighting, losses and arguments between the two of them. But, after finding this awesome bunker from their paternal grandfather when he had come through time (albeit with a pissed off Knight of Hell hot on his heels) the two of them had found a way for themselves to relax. They finally had a permanent home, and it was still just theirs. And upon finding that the place was fully stocked with weapons and modern amenities, Dean had been delighted by their new home, and Sam, returning to his schoolboy nerd roots, had had a massive geek out and now seemed determined to read the entire library by Christmas. And Dean had to admit, it was nice seeing his brother actually enjoying the work for a change. Sam, unlike him, had never truly enjoyed hunting, that had always been Dean's thing and why he had been so determined to escape to Stanford. But now, with a massive library at his disposal (and a weight off his back as he no longer had to carry their books around on a hunt since they now had a place to put them), Sam had gone into full out geek mode and was relaxing, enjoying himself and being so enthusiastic about the bunker that Dean wasn't quite convinced that he wasn't on drugs and permanently high.

It was their home now. They (and by they he meant him, Sam had refused to come to any as he had found a book on past hunters that the Men of Letters had written and refused to come as he was busy delving into the past again) had now emptied all of theirs and their dad's old lockups and stores, moved everything out of the cabin and of Bobby's boltholes, and even stuff that they had collected from people like Ellen and Rufus that had been dotted around the country, and all of it was now here in their new home. They had their own wardrobes for their clothes, book shelves for their own books and store rooms for their own weapons, including Dean's bazooka, Sam's archangel blade, Dean's Purgatory axe and Mjolnir, which Sam had claimed for his own and refused to let Dean play with. And the best part was, they were still nowhere near finished exploring the bunker, there were two entire wings of rooms that they hadn't been to yet, still weapons rooms to be discovered and other sorts of things.

"Come on Hermione, come out into the wider world of the rest of the bunker." Dean said in amusement, guiding Sam, whose nose was once more stuck in the book, towards the central room of the library which was where they researched, ate and relaxed.

Resisting the urge to direct his brother to crash into something (because Sam certainly wasn't watching where he was going), Dean guided him out to the main room and sat him down before getting a couple of beers from the fridge they had installed.

"We need to get a TV or something in here too, either in our rooms or here in the loungey bit." Dean commented, Sam absently agreeing as he scribbled away furiously about angels into his bestiary.

"And we could get films and things, like Game of Thrones, James Bond, Star Wars...Beauty and the Beast?" Dean asked, noticing Sam wasn't paying attention, but he must have heard the end of it because he looked at his brother in confusion.

"Huh?" he asked and Dean shook his head.

"I was checking you were with me and not on geek cloud nine but obviously you were. A TV, in here, in the rooms, films and stuff for us to watch, yes or no?" he asked, and Sam nodded.

"Yeah, but not in here, you would get distracted. In the rooms is fine though." He said, going back to his bestiary, looking thoughtful.

"What's up?" Dean asked, and Sam frowned.

"This rates creatures on the level of danger from one to five, five being the worst. What would you say an angel is, four or five?" he asked, and Dean frowned, thinking about it.

"Five I reckon, they get extra points for being dickheads." He said, and Sam nodded, filling it in, and Dean grinned, it was good to see his brother enjoying himself again.

With his brother otherwise occupied, he felt it was a good opportunity to broach something that had been bothering him.

"Hey, Sammy?" he asked, as Sam began putting Leviathans into the bestiary.

"Yeah?"

"Know when you first started Stanford? Was it hard, you know, to adapt to the fact that you weren't sharing a room anymore?" Dean asked, hoping his brother would answer and move on.

No such luck.

Sam smirked as he put down his pen, grinning evilly at his brother.

"Wait a minute, you, the person who was so excited to be getting a room of their own after all this time, is now having second thoughts?" he teased and Dean shot him a sour look.

"Did I say I was having second thoughts? No, I asked if it was hard for you to adjust to the fact that I wasn't in the same room at first." He said tartly, and Sam cocked his head curiously.

"But are you? It's ok if you're having trouble adjusting Dean. After all, we've basically lived in each other's pockets for eight years straight, the only time you got off was when you shacked up with Lisa and even then you were still living with someone else. It's ok to be a bit intimidated now you have your own room." Sam said kindly.

"I am not intimidated, sheesh, all I did was ask a simple question, I didn't need a lecture along with it!" Dean said defensively, not looking at Sam and about to flounce off in a huff.

"Dean! Yes, it was weird at first." He said, and that seemed to stop Dean in his tracks.

"It was?" he asked, and Sam nodded.

"Of course it was, I was suddenly all alone in a room of my own, without you there, without dad, it was weird at first, disconcerting. You just need to get used to it that's all." He said, going back to his bestiary, and Dean relaxed a little.

It wasn't that he missed Sam being in the same room as him, far from it. It was just strange, not having Sam in the same room as he was after all these years. The last time they hadn't slept in the same room through their own choice had been after the attack by the Vetalas, Dean had been mad Sam had gone off without him and nearly got himself killed, and Sam was mad at him because he told him in no uncertain terms that if Dean had been doing his job properly, he wouldn't have had to go off on his own and nearly die. Both of them mad at each other, Dean mad at Sam basically for being right and Sam mad at Dean for being so obsessed with revenge and as usual not dealing with his emotions and hence venting his crap onto Sam, Sam had booked two separate rooms. That had led to a furious Dean stewing in his own room all night, regretfully looking over at the other bed where Sam should be. In the morning however, he did realise his brother was right, and if he had been with him and paying attention, Sam's mistake (which he couldn't really blame Sam for making since it hadn't been in the journal, he only knew vetalas hunted in twos from experience) could have easily been avoided.

Going to Sam's door and receiving no answer, Dean had bypassed anger and gone straight to fear and had burst down the door to find his brother sweating like a pig, through the roof with a fever. Dean had then spent the next two days nursing his brother back to health, bitterly blaming himself for getting his brother into that mess. Still hadn't stopped Sam apologising to him as soon as he was able even though it was his own fault which had only wound Dean up all the more as he knew full well his brother shouldn't be apologising to him, it should have been the other way around.

"And if you don't get over it, I'm sure you could always knock down the wall between our rooms if it'll make you feel better." Sam said teasingly, earning him a kick in the shin from Dean, who hated himself for considering how a through door to Sam would look. Ah well, if he did get it, there was nothing to stop him having fun and terrorising his brother at night. Suppressing a chuckle he sat there sipping his beer, watching his brother write entries into the bestiary until the phone abruptly rang, making Sam grin.

"See, told you, I do all the work and you answer the phones!" he said brightly, making Dean grin as he answered it.

"Hello?" he asked as Sam continued to scribble away.

"Dean! How are you?" Marion, their sheriff friend from Brandon, greeted heartily and Dean grinned at hearing their friend's voice.

"We're good Marion, hang on, I'll put you on speaker phone." He said, doing so, distracting Sam from his note taking as he looked up at the phone.

"Hi Marion, it's good to hear from you." He greeted, and they could hear Marion sigh in relief as he did so.

"Oh it is good to hear from you boys. I don't mind telling you, we were worried sick when you disappeared. And I know you had your reasons, Jody told me, but a heads up once you were back in the game would have been nice." He scolded, and the two brothers looked at each other sheepishly.

"Yeah, sorry, that was a dick move. We should have told all of you we were back, or at least visited after we got attacked." Sam admitted and he heard Marion chuckle.

"Yes, Missouri most of all, she has two heavy spoons with your names on them just for you when you pluck up the courage to visit her." He told them, chortling, and Dean gulped worriedly, an incensed Missouri was not something he wanted to encounter any time soon.

"So what can we do for you Marion? Charlie hasn't come back from the dead has he?" Sam growled, referring to Marion's former deputy.

Charlie had been convinced that when Sam had been killed by a resurrected Zachariah the year before, that Dean had been the culprit who had killed him (though in his defence Zachariah was making Dean think he had too which didn't help). He had flagged up the case for the FBI, which had brought the Leviathan FBI agent, Valente, down to Brandon, and when the boys had escaped he had killed everyone in the station bar Charlie. Charlie had then joined him, the actual FBI team and the group of hunters tracking the Winchesters and their allies across America, allying freely with their enemies all because they helped him get revenge on Dean, who had killed Charlie's brother due to him being a werewolf. After a final showdown in St Mary's convent where it appeared that he was dead, he had killed Dean in a cowardly attack when Dean had been mourning Sam's death and had fled. After Death had resurrected the boys, they had returned and made one of their rare human murders and had killed him allowing Marion to return to work and life in Brandon to move on.

"No, I could deal with that, I've got stuff to tell you about that anyway. But no, you see I've got a string of very nasty murders in the town, and I'm thinking they might have something to do with you lads. Obviously I've looked through the books you gave me, and a couple I got from Garth and Missouri when you boys were MIA but I can't find anything that might explain it. So, you fancy coming up here and lending an old friend a hand? Free accommodation, free beer and I've just put a pot of chilli on the stove, and I'm not one to brag, but I make a mean chilli." He said, and Sam looked at Dean for the answer.

"Sure, give us an hour and we'll be on the road. See you in a bit." He said, and they could practically hear Marion's smile on the other end of the phone.

"Excellent. See you in a bit then lads, I'll get the guest room ready, one of you will need to take the sofa bed though, is that fine, you boys sharing a room?" he asked, and Sam grinned.

"Bags the bed! Yeah that's fine, Dean might welcome the chance to share a room with me again anyway, he's having separation anxiety." He said, grinning maddeningly, sniggering at the look of outrage he had just brought to his brother's face.

"That's good then. I'll get some beers in. Since Dean is having separation anxiety, would he like me to get him a cuddly toy?" Marion asked to wind Dean up, and Dean balled up his fists while Sam disappeared from view, sniggering out of sight beneath the table.

"A cuddly toy, no, a coffin so I can dispose of my brother would be handy though. See you soon." He said, and Marion laughed.

"See you when you get here just come to the house, you remember the one, call me if you get lost. Bye for now!" he said, hanging up, and Sam came up from beneath the table to look at his brother, his face mostly deadpan, trying to stop a grin.

"I'll give you a one second head start." Dean growled and with an annoying grin, Sam vanished into the stacks before Dean thundered after him.

It was good to relax and just be brothers again, relax and have fun for a change. Even if they did have a case to go to.

"Of course you realise, this means war." Dean vowed and he chased after his brother.

Sam had cast the first stone. It was time for the prank war to begin again.

XX

"Sam and Dean will walk willingly into your trap lady Ember." Niandra reported to the council at large, and the leader of the demon faction smiled.

"Excellent. Am I to take it then that your abilities have returned my dear?" she asked the girl fondly, and Niandra, the oracle of the Perpurigo, frowned nervously.

"No, they haven't. Some things I can divine, but whatever this threat is that is facing the Perpurigo, I cannot make it out, it sets itself against me, blocks my vision. I can't see what this threat is, all I know is that it is getting more powerful." She said fearfully, and Ophanim looked at Seraphim worriedly.

"Naomi? She's the only one on our side who could conceivably challenge us." She said worriedly, but Seraphim shook his head.

"Doubtful, she's too busy trying to take control over heaven, and track down the angel tablet which she was foolish enough to let Crowley find out about." He said ponderingly, and Kerubiel turned to Ember.

"Could Crowley be the threat against us?" he asked and she snarled in contempt.

"He wouldn't dare, he knows I would pluck out his heart and cast it from the tallest tower. Besides, like Naomi, he is busy trying to track down his respective tablet, which the Winchester's pet prophet now has." She dismissed, and Zain looked at the rest, his brow furrowed.

"Leviathans? Some remain after all." He pointed out, but Delphus shook his head.

"The ones that remain are only out for themselves, they don't have the skills or capabilities to organise themselves without their leader. And besides, even if it is them, intelligence has located several more Leviathans across the country, the Elite are moving in now to kill those and send them back to Purgatory where they belong, so even if they are a threat they won't be so for much longer." He explained, and Macey hissed between her teeth in annoyance.

"Isn't it obvious who are foe is? It's the Winchesters! Once they are dead, this will end." She vowed, but Akpach shook his head, his dour face looking even less impressed than usual

"If the threat against us was truly the Winchesters, Niandra would be able to divine it, especially since they seem to be walking into Ember's trap. The fact that she can't points to another player who is setting themselves against us." He explained darkly, to the general discomfort of the entire group.

"Fear not. I have summoned all of the oracles from within our ranks. Veronica and I are going to use them to augment our powers, so that we can try and divine this threat to us before it is too late. However, regardless this threat is some time away and we have a job to do. Several seals have yet to be rebuilt after all, and that's just for a start." Niandra said, to the nod of Veltas.

"The seer is right, we're too busy focusing on the Winchesters and this unseen threat of ours to focus on our actual jobs. As the threat seems to be far off, we ought to focus on the things that we can impact." He said, to the various nods of the other council members.

"As you know, the angel Apronia was Raphael's most dangerous supporter in his attempts to restart the Apocalypse, and she has caused all sorts of problems. The families of those she killed in order to contact Lucifer and Michael must be eliminated. I think it best if we use Wendy for that task." He said, turning his attention to Ember, who nodded in agreement.

"I agree my friend. I shall have her send those Apronia killed against the remaining family members, that will clear up that mess. She caused another problem though didn't she?" she asked, and Ophanim nodded.

"Indeed she did, she also blinded several fisherman off of Alaska to break another seal." She reminded, and Veltas tapped his chin with his long index finger.

"Then as you are no doubt aware, action must be taken to clear up that mess as well. I suggest Brogan for the task, heh, his poor defenceless victims wouldn't be able to see his hellhounds even if they did have eyes." He said coldly, to laughter from the Reapers and demons, though the three angels faces were marred with distaste.

"The Ancilla are also hunting down all those who were in the hospital that Lilith blew up in Seattle, along with the survivors of her motorway carnage to help tidy up that loose end as well." Lexii, the leader of the Reaper faction, reported in unconcern, knowing that the group the Ancilla were hunting had no chance against their forces.

"And Ember's plan continues apace, meaning we can hit two birds with one stone and deal with the last loose end in Brandon. Which means my friends it is now time to turn our attention to those in heaven and hell who were touched by these events." Seraphim decreed, to general consensus.

Kerubiel smiled maliciously.

"I want to deal with the angels. I will take Quasi and his brothers and go and annihilate the last of those angels who were foolish enough to support Raphael in his attempt to end the world. And any of the remaining hierarchy that supported Michael." He said, to the cautious nod of Seraphim.

"I concur my friend, however, do not take out Naomi, out of all the factions that remain up there, she is the one who would be most advantageous to having in charge of heaven. Perhaps we ought to do her a favour. An angel by the name of Zophiel, who once was personally appointed by Michael to find Gabriel after he abandoned heaven and his brothers, is the largest competitor to her claim to power. Obviously, as a personal supporter of Michael and someone whose failure to complete his mission allowed for the mass murder of so many pagan gods, is someone who ought to be rectified." He said, and Kerubiel nodded.

By his failure to find Gabriel before his death, he had allowed for the death of one of the four Archangels, which despite the protestations of his two heaven bound older brothers, did affect the overall power of heaven and the angels themselves. And Lucifer's mass murder of the pagan gods had thrown the world into havoc. Not only had the human authorities discovered a scene of mass murder, which was bad enough, everyone who had been worshipping those gods and everyone connected to those gods had been affected, which had only increased the hysteria around the Apocalypse and led to many more deaths and destruction across the globe, leaving the Perpurigo an even bigger pile of excrement to deal with when they had finally broke through the barriers Michael had placed around their realm.

"So, I am to take care of this Zophiel?" Kerubiel asked, and Ophanim nodded.

"Yes, that will allow our natural ally Naomi to help bring further order to heaven, it won't end the civil war but it will go a long way to ending it, which also fits in with our mandate. And with the largest warlord aside from Naomi removed, it will further break apart the smaller factions as they all vie for power, which keeps heaven out of the way as we continue to repair the damage that has been done over the last several years." She said, and Kerubiel nodded, allowing a bloodthirsty Lexii to lean forward in her chair excitedly.

"And as Ember is playing with the Winchesters, that allows me to go to hell and deal with the last of Lilith's supporters and any who remain of Azazel and she's inner circle, and any of Lucifer's remaining advisors. I shall take my daevas, they won't know what hit them." She said with cold excitement, and Zain rolled his eyes in amusement.

"It's inspiring but amusing at how excited you get at the prospect of mass slaughter mother." He said, and she winked at her son.

"Of course darling." She said, ignoring the dirty look Akpach was giving her.

"I believe I am Ember's second in command Lexii." He reminded her tightly, and Ember was the one who answered.

"Exactly, which is why while I am dealing with the Winchesters you must attend to my affairs here at Arce Purgatus. Veltas will also be on hand to help my should I require it. Let Lexii have her fun Akpach, you know how grumpy she gets when she hasn't killed at least three people before lunch time, a slaughter will keep her out of everyone's hair." She assured him, making Lexii grin.

"Exactly. What about Crowley?" she asked curiously, and Ember seethed.

"Much though I would like to eradicate that glorified little bureaucrat, he does keep hell in line and out of our way. One day we may deal with him permanently, but for now he is the lesser of the many evils in hell. However he is having problems with one of the factions that formed to help him topple Lilith. Ziminiar wants more power, and is risking a rebellion in order to get it as Crowley will not bow to his wishes. Remove Ziminiar, that will keep Crowley happy and cooperative for the time being and keep at least one realm from falling into another civil war." she ordered, and Lexii nodded.

"As you wish. Then, unless I miss my guess, we are done here are we not?" she asked, and Seraphim nodded.

"Indeed we are." He said, rising and with a rustle, the angels vanished, followed a second later by the demons, leaving the Reapers, Delphus and Niandra to use the door as usual.

"Show offs." Niandra grumbled to Delphus who chuckled slightly as they too left the council chamber.

XX

This wasn't good. Thus far, great care had been taken to block Niandra's view to prevent her from discovering what was going on within the Perpurigo and so far it had worked, but now she was going to use all of the considerable talents of the other seers, including her own handmaiden Veronica who's own talents were quite considerable, to try and divine the source of the threat against the order.

That simply wouldn't do.

Action would need to be taken. Perhaps their little puppet could be used, but failing that...

The seers only became truly effective when they achieved their full powers, which they didn't do until they were approved by a senior oracle, which was Niandra. The others, while proficient, were basically looking at threats through binoculars if indeed they did manage to find out anything. They needed the ceremony, the ritual that Niandra and Veronica carried out to become true oracles like Niandra. And Veronica was closest to Niandra in level, the next one after her would take years before she was able to see like Veronica could, and decades before she reached Niandra's level. Yes, that was a possibility, but there was still Niandra to deal with.

But if any move was made against her, she would divine that, it was the nature of her powers, self preservation above all things. Which if need be, could be used to their advantage. Yes...it certainly could be used to their advantage.

XX

Discovery was now more than a fear, it could easily become a reality. His plans, everything he was working towards, could easily be undone. Niandra, Veronica, all of the seers on their own weren't a threat. But together, they may be able to divine the true nature of the threat from within the Perpurigo. That couldn't be allowed to happen, he was far from ready, he hadn't even consulted any of the Perpurigo's various allies yet in order to sound them out about the coming change in regime. No, Niandra could not be allowed to get close enough to figure out just what was going on. But moving against her was foolhardy. It could easily lead to everything he had been working towards collapsing around his ears. No, he had to think about this.

But...

The threat wasn't Niandra, they already knew she couldn't divine the future like she used to. Her power was beginning to ebb, which may be a way in. After all, there were so many ways to defeat one's enemy.

XX

Interesting that Niandra was putting her heart and soul into discovering just what was threatening the Perpurigo. Obviously, she could not be allowed to truly discover what was going on behind the scenes, of the dark threats, plans and alliances shaping up hidden from view in order to bring about a new order. Plans long formulated and goals long desired were too close to fruition to be abandoned now just because Niandra was getting curious. But what course of action to take? If Niandra caught wind of what was going on, she would undo everything they had been planning for all these years. No, the oracle, the oracle was becoming a problem. However, not individually, it was the potential threat caused by her joining with all the others seers within the group that threatened all the schemes that were taking place behind the scenes.

Perhaps it was time to twist one of the Perpurigo's views against itself. Rather than the over the many, perhaps it needed to be the many for the one? After all, other than being blocked, Niandra was still a powerful seer, and the Perpurigo needed her help in order to do their job. All that could be hoped for was that the other factions would realise that too.

And if not, they themselves would have to take action.

XX

"Starting without me Veronica?" Niandra chided slightly, finding her handmaiden sitting on the bed as she entered her quarters in the central tower of Arce Purgatus.

"Sorry mistress, I couldn't wait." She said, and then relaxed as Niandra shut the door.

"So you should be my dear, after all, venturing into the future without me, very risky business. I might get jealous." Niandra said teasingly, sitting down on her bed beside her handmaiden and kissing her gently.

"Sorry my love, but we are in danger, and it is my duty to help protect you. I am your handmaiden after all." She chided seductively, kissing Niandra's cheek coyly, and Niandra smiled.

"You are much more than that beloved. Did you have any luck?" she asked, and Veronica shook her head.

As she explained what had happened when she had tried to see the future, Niandra took in the small, slight form of her handmaiden, her olive skin, her sleek black hair, the smears of red shadow that covered her eyes and marked her cheeks and forehead, her body draped in the same sort of silk scarves that Niandra's was.

"So, you weren't able to divine anything?" Niandra asked worriedly.

Because, having fun with Veronica aside, this was becoming a truly dangerous and intimidating threat, an unknown power was moving against the Perpurigo and was blocking its vision, which could only mean it had something insidious planned, and they could find nothing to help them, a fact that was putting them all on edge. The reason for this was simple, how were you meant to defend against a threat if you didn't know what it was?

"Nothing of interest to us. We could try together though." She said, extending her hands, palm upwards to her lover and mistress and Niandra sat opposite her, crossing her legs as she clasped Veronica's hands in her own.

"Let's. Then, if we still fail, then we shall summon the corps." She decided, and Veronica nodded, smiling alluringly.

"I did divine one thing though mistress, someone within the council is going to have sex tonight, and it isn't Zain." She said with a grin, and Niandra chuckled as she and lover got to work.

XX

"Agent Tyers, the lack of progress on this is frankly unacceptable." Mueller said sternly as she sat before him in his office.

"I'm sorry sir, but ever since they escaped us in Stockbridge we have always arrived too late to do anything to stop them. We nearly had them in their last town, but when we got there we decided that Nazi war criminals who according to the old Allied files are meant to be long dead walking around required our attention." She said, and he had to admit, it was a fairly good reason for abandoning her required job if nothing else.

"Yes, but the true problem remains the Winchesters. They are both alive, I know it. I have need of them Agent Tyers, and I appointed you so you could bring them before me and you have yet to do so. Tell me why I shouldn't reassign you?" Mueller asked, glaring at her and she looked back at him stonily.

"Because sir, respectfully, if you do that, you would have to start all over again with someone else. My team is good enough to find the Winchesters, I can promise you that." She assured, and Mueller looked at her sceptically, and she could feel the patronisation before it even began.

"If your team is good enough, then why do I not have the Winchesters?" he challenged, and noticed as she clenched her fist to try and keep her temper under control.

"Because they are good at this director, and respectfully, they've managed to elude you for at least eight years, whereas I have been doing this for only one, so if you can't catch them, it might be a little difficult for me to catch them." She said venomously, and Mueller recoiled in shock, sitting back in his seat as he surveyed his seething agent.

He then let out a low chuckle.

"You have spunk Agent Tyers, and I appreciate that. And you do raise a good point. My apologies. You see, the Winchesters are linked with an issue of national, if not international, security. And I want them, before this issue gets any worse. You see, events have been set in motion that cannot be undone, and I need the Winchesters to help settle what is going on and save the country. I trust you understand that Agent Tyers. As a result, you understand why I am so determined to find the Winchesters, something very big is going on behind the scenes in our country, and I intend to deal with it, and the Winchesters are essential for that purpose. So, I expect two hundred percent effort from now on Agent Tyers. Do you have any leads on where they might be?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Not a lead per se, more a suspicion. There has been a series of strange murders in Brandon South Dakota, and it seems like wherever such things are, there's usually a Winchester not far behind. And we were about to head there when we were summoned halfway across the country, so by your leave sir, we will get back on the road." Tyers said curtly, and he nodded, beckoning her out of his office.

She was bordering on insubordination, but he supposed that was justifiable. They had left Pennsylvania and had been going through Illinois when he had summoned them all the way back here so that Tyers could give him a report.

Mueller frowned. This situation was getting out of hand. Other FBI directors had known of this situation, but he would be the first to do something about. The pestilence that was poisoning America would come to an end, and he would be the one who would do it. And the Winchesters were the key to that. And, if rumours were to be believed in some of the circles that Mueller listened in to, then they had recently become all the more useful in ending this pestilence than before.

And that was why he needed them. With them at his disposal, he could end the silent war going on in America, bring an end to the silent struggle. America would be free of its taint.

And he would be the visionary FBI director who brought it about.

XX

Dean, trying hard not to grin, banged on Marion's door, watching as Sam gave edgy looks at the garden gnomes he had flanking the front step (the kid had always been scared of gnomes, no idea why, apparently they freaked him out). The door opened and they were greeted by the grinning face of Marion, a twinkle in his eye and a slight limp as he pulled open the door.

"Oh it's damn good to see you boys." He said fondly, shaking Dean's hand and giving him a brief hug, before looking curiously at Sam.

"Sam my boy, why do you have a moustache drawn on your face?" he asked, and Dean burst out into laughter as he watched his brother figure it out. Coolly and calmly, Sam turned to Dean, giving him a cold look and an evil smile.

"Alright, fine, if that's how you want to play it, you're on." He said before allowing himself to be greeted by Marion.

"Good to see you Marion. Can I use your bathroom? I live with a child." He said scathingly, while Dean affected a look of innocence.

"Just at the top of the stairs, you pair's room is the one next to it. Come in come in." Marion said, leading them in to the house, and Sam pointedly left Dean's bag in his hand, sticking his tongue out at Dean as he did so, though his brother only winked maddeningly.

"Have I gotten myself in the middle of one of your sibling wars?" Marion asked in amusement, and Dean nodded.

"Yeah, don't blame me, he started it. And he always did zonk in the car, serves him right." He said with a grin and Marion shook his head as he led Dean into the well appointed kitchen, where the smell of cooking chilli immediately attracted Dean's attention.

"That smells awesome." He said, his mouth watering, and Marion inclined his head in acknowledgement.

"I do make a mean chilli if I do say so myself. A beer I think. I took the day off so I could make sure you boys got here in one piece. With Charlie gone no one should recognise you since Valente killed everyone who might have done but we can't be too sure. Just shove those books to the side, I meant to move them but I forgot." He said lamely, as Sam, now clean, entered and accepted the beer Marion passed him.

"So what's up Marion, how've you been?" he asked, sitting down and Dean could tell that his little brother's devious mind was plotting ways to get back at him, if he hadn't already.

"I've been grand, doing away. You'll be pleased to know life here went back to normal virtually overnight once you disposed of Charlie. Ah, hang on, my legs giving my gyp." He said, sitting down and removing his false leg, with a bottle of whiskey stowed inside, scratching the stump of the leg which he had lost in the final battle of their war with Raphael and Lilith.

"I still want one of them." Dean complained, pointing to the built in whiskey bottle, and Sam rolled his eyes.

"I told you before, to get one of them you need to lose a leg, which means I have to drive and you wouldn't let me drive the Impala all the time so you can't." He told him patiently, while Dean sagged slightly, making Marion chuckle.

"Anyway, I've not been up to much in the past year, it's you boys I want to hear about, all I've done is my job and a few hunts." He said, and Dean looked at him in surprise.

"Wait, you've started hunting?" he asked in shock, and Marion grinned.

"Yep. The book Bobby gave me was quite handy, and then Garth and Missouri gave me a couple more when you pair disappeared. See, when we learned what happened in the showdown between you lot and Roman, we panicked. Missouri knew first of course, she sensed that something bad had happened, but by the time Garth got there, you'd all vanished. All the Leviathans were dead, there was a field of burned corpses without heads on, and it looked like a few demons might have bought it too, but there was no sign of any of you. Missouri, when she arrived, couldn't get a read on anything, she said she felt you boys had been there but you weren't there now. She couldn't even sense the echoes that mark where the prophet lad has been, apparently he gives off some sort of signal she can trace or something, but there was nothing. All she knew was, you had both vanished, and along with you the boy, the angel and Meg. And believe me, Garth was more affected by her vanishing than he was willing to admit. Anyway, by this time we were all losing it, we hadn't heard from any of you, we had tried to summon Bobby, call Meg, call the hospital Castiel was apparently at, Missouri tried séances and all sorts of things, we put out searches for you, nothing. Obviously we couldn't search for you outright because Mueller was still looking for you so we were basically stuck. So, with no sign of you boys, we started to step up. Missouri went back into the occasional bit of hunting, Garth always was, and when we could, Jody and I did our bits too. I mean we're not full time like you boys, but we do alright, part time hunters, part time cops, all round good eggs." He said brightly, and Sam looked at him sheepishly.

"Marion...I'm sorry. Dean, he was stuck in Purgatory, so he couldn't help you. I could have at least called you guys to let you know I was alright at least." He said, and Marion waved it off.

"Don't worry about it son, Jody told me what happened to you, I can't really blame you. You were a mess, I saw Dean when you died, several times I might add, I know how you two depend on each other, it was alright to be a bit lost without him." He said, noting that Dean was looking anywhere but his brother and vice versa. Must be to do with the issues Garth told him about.

"Yeah, I still should have said." Sam said, but Marion waved it off.

"Let it go Sam? You screwed up, it happens. You're human, you're allowed to make mistakes. I happen to recall a certain other person in this room making a choice few last year." He said mildly, shooting Dean a look that brought a slight grin to Sam's face as Dean determinedly looked the other way.

"So what have you hunted?" Dean asked curiously, deciding to re-enter the conversation.

Marion shrugged.

"Nothing that much, did a couple of ghosts a few months back, I did a demon that was getting a bit too big for its britches, a werewolf and a black dog." He recounted and Sam had to admit he was impressed.

Unlike he and Dean, Marion hadn't been trained to become a hunter, he had just kind of fallen in with a group of them trying to prevent the end of the world last year. For him, especially since he only had one leg which was potentially dangerous, he'd made a pretty good job of it.

"Impressive. So, you guys decided to pick up some of the slack since Sam wasn't doing his job?" Dean asked, earning a glare from Sam, and then, a kick in the shin for good measure that made his eyes water, guess he'd kind of deserved that one.

Marion shot him a scolding look and nodded.

"Not enough to win any awards, but enough that we did a good job at the end of the day. But now, what's been happening with you boys? After the shinding with Raphael and company, we barely heard from you until you told us you were going after Roman, and after that you vanished, come on, I want details." He wheedled, making the boys grin.

"Well I was stuck in Purgatory for the better part of a year. Not a nice vacation spot, trust me."

"And that's the place where all that lot, Raphael, Lilith, Gordon etc all came from right?" Marion asked, reattaching his leg and hobbling over to the stove to stir the chilli.

"Exactly." Dean said, and was about to continue when Sam looked at him curiously.

"I never actually thought to ask, but did you see anyone we knew down there?" he asked, and Dean shook his head.

"Other than Cas when I found him, no. Which now I come to think of it is kind of strange. The amount of nasties we've put away you'd have expected me to find someone we knew." He mused, and Marion frowned thoughtfully.

"One of the things I read online reckons that there are multiple levels of Purgatory, just like hell, which I suppose would make sense."

"Well, once I got out, I hooked up with Sam, who'd kind of lost it a bit and we just got back into it." He said, and Sam looked at Marion with a small smile.

"Yeah, we've been royally screwing Crowley over too." He informed him, making the sheriff chuckle.

"Oh I am glad to hear that. We summoned him you know, all he told was that you were both away for the good of your health and laughed at us, even though we scooshed him with holy water. Just tickled him apparently." He said in distaste, and Dean gave him a sharp look.

"Are you trying to get yourselves killed? He's the freaking king of hell, you don't just piss him off like that...that's our job." He said defensively and Marion raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, and it was rather hard for you to do it when you had both disappeared. Besides, I think he knew full well we weren't really a threat, he just sneered and went on his way." He said with a sigh, sitting back down at the table again.

"Trust you pair to come back and piss off Crowley. What's his deal anyway?" he asked, making himself comfortable.

"Garth's been watching after Kevin, the prophet. He's been deciphering the demon tablet, which in theory means, that when the kid cracks it, we'll be able to get rid of all the demons for good." Dean explained and Marion's eyes widened.

"All of them? That's brilliant, can it be done?" he asked excitedly, and Sam shrugged.

"We don't know, it depends on Kevin deciphering the tablet, but we think so, which is why Crowley's so pissed off recently. Anyway, why did you call us here Marion?" he asked curiously, and Marion got to his feet.

"Yes, I suppose you do want to know. Well, partly it was to shut Jody up, you boys really ought to call her or Missouri more. It will stop them, and by extension us, worrying about you so much. I know you boys are skittish about letting people in but we do care about you boys, and we know we aren't the only ones. So just the occasional heads up, yes?" he asked and Sam smiled.

"Sure thing Marion. And yeah, old habits die hard I guess. Dad never really trusted anyone and by extension we couldn't either. The people we do trust had to earn it, and don't get me wrong, you guys have, it's just..." Sam began, and Dean finished for him.

"It's just the people we do trust have a habit of getting killed." He finished grimly, and Marion shot him a pitying look.

"Dean my boy, we survived angels, demons, Leviathans, vampires, FBI and insane hunters, all during a cheap rerun of the Apocalypse. Haven't we more than earned our stripes?" he asked pointedly and Dean grinned.

"Good point I suppose. So, you only called us here to see if we were still alive?" he asked with a grin and Marion laughed.

"Certainly not. Though that is an added benefit and it means I can keep them quiet for ten minutes, they drive me to drink I swear, nagging at me." He said with a shake of his head, stomping through to the study.

"Then why don't they call themselves?" Sam asked as Marion returned, a large envelope in his hand, and Marion rolled his eyes.

"Why else? They're too damn proud and stubborn, so muggins here got given the marching orders to check you're alright. Oh and I should warn you now, I'm under oath that I'll take you to Sioux Falls for dinner at Jody's one night while you're here, so for all our sakes and mine in particular, don't let me forget, she'll skin me alive. So, you call them you hear me, if only so I can go a week without being nagged at? Be a gentlemen and take one for the team." He begged and Dean grinned.

It was nice, having people to care about them again. It had been so long and they'd virtually only had each other and Bobby, that with Bobby gone it just didn't seem right that they should keep putting people in danger by getting close to them. But Jody, Marion, Missouri and Garth, the four of them together, they all clearly cared about them, and if that was the case, the least they could do was the same in return.

"Sure thing Marion. But there is a case here right?" he asked, and Marion nodded, sitting himself down once again.

"That there is. Now, contrary to Valente last year, Brandon is a fairly quiet town, we're lucky if we have five murders a year. The most serious thing we get is either burglaries, or some old dear going through the menopause not paying for her messages. That was until last week." He said grimly, opening the envelope.

Dean moved closer to Sam (all the while alert for any sign of revenge skulduggery on his brother's part) to read the case files over his shoulder.

"We've had three murders in the last week, all of them killed in the exact same way. Now, because we're usually such a quiet town, it spread like wildfire of course which is only bringing all the crazies out of the woodwork, but that's not the point. As far as we can tell, all of them have the same wounds, and were all killed in the exact same manner, and all of them killed round about midnight. Why is it always midnight?" he pondered aloud, and Dean mused on it too. However Sam was more focused on reading the case files.

"All of them were tied up?" he asked, and Marion nodded.

"Yes, and that's what makes it all so strange. I can't see anything that relates the three victims, nothing at all, yet they were all killed at about midnight, and if this is a supernatural thing it most likely was midnight they were killed, all in a specific way. They were all tied to something, their hands bound and then their bodies tied to whatever they were against at the time. Each of them has a blow to the head, potentially lethal. But that isn't all. After they've been clobbered, which we assume is to have their way with them, they get tied up, and their necks are then tied up with a garrotte. The garrotte is then slowly tightened, and to finish killing the poor saps, their throats are cut. Now, at first I was stumped until I read one of the books Garth gave me, and I reckon it's a..."

"Threefold death." Sam said in obvious distaste and Dean looked at him in shock.

"No kidding?" he asked, taking the case notes and reading them for himself.

"I take it you've heard of it then?" Marion asked, feeling a small sense of relief, he'd known the boys would come through.

"It's very rare, seriously dark stuff. Dark priests and priestesses, occasionally nasty witches, pagan worshippers, they're really the only people who've ever used it, them and the druids, they offer them up as a sacrifice. The last time we even heard about one was from Ellen, she and Jo encountered some pagan god trying to get enough souls to let him survive the Apocalypse and he had a bunch of people sacrificing people in the exact same way to him, well, at least until Ellen sliced his head off." He mused, and Dean grinned.

"The asshat should never have pissed off Ellen, better people than he have done it and lost, me included." He said sardonically, going back to the report.

"So I was right, this is a supernatural thing, way above both my paygrades?" Marion asked, and Sam nodded.

"Yeah, you did the right thing Marion. This is seriously nasty stuff you're dealing with here. Any sign of an altar?" he asked curiously, but Marion held up a hand.

"Hold your horses I've not filled the background yet. Well, these murders started about a week ago, I considered calling you after the first one just because it seemed so bizarre, but then I got another one, then another two days ago." He explained, and Dean scowled in distaste.

"Well if we're right and this is a threefold death kill, you'll have another tomorrow, that's how they work, everything in threes, three deaths, three days off and then back to the three deaths again." He explained, wrinkling his nose as if he smelled something horrible.

Marion lost a little bit of colour from his face.

"Great, that's just what I needed to hear. Anyway, all of them are the same way. All of them clobbered on the head, their hands bound to a post or a tree or something similar, then their bodies, then their necks. They then get garrotted and then to finish the job their throats are cut. Hell of a way to go, and it's happening in my town. But here's the rub. We never found anyone outside, even though one of the victims definitely had bark embedded in their scarred wrists. The killer, whoever it is, does the job, then takes them back into the house and puts them on the bed, just leaves them there." He explained, and Sam frowned musingly.

"Huh, could be a druid then, but druids are Celtic, there aren't very many over here, and technically it isn't a druid anyway if it's killing, if it's killing it becomes a darach. Either way, there's some serious mojo going on here Marion, threefold deaths are nasty stuff, involved in invoking all sorts of creepy shit, monsters, shadow creatures, plagues, death to all enemies, that kind of stuff." He explained grimly, making Marion frown grimly.

"And it's happening in my town, will my joy ever cease? Well, it was when we found the second body, the one who was moved indoors, that I started considering calling you in earnest. And then we found the third body. Looks to me like someone must have interrupted the killer. They were found in their house, don't get me wrong, but I reckon they were disturbed. In each case, there was nothing except a strange smell in the air when we found the body, until we got to the third one. White candles, sage, cedar, sweetgrass, incense, holy water, all of it was left out in the room of the victim, on the floor in a half moon shape." He explained, and Dean looked up again.

"Wait, that isn't threefold death, that's a cleansing ritual." He pointed out, and Sam nodded.

"Yeah he's right, that is a cleansing ritual. So, someone murders these people, takes them back to bed, then cleanses himself?" he asked, bewildered, and Marion nodded.

"Certainly seems to be that way. So, threefold death, which is then purified by the killer. Makes no sense does it?" he asked, and they had to admit, he had a point there.

"I can see why you wanted us." Dean said idly, frowning, and then Marion shot him an odd look.

"I'm not done. Because after they clean themselves, there's still another part that they do. Look at the pictures at the back." He told them, and Sam pulled them from the back and both he and Dean gave a start as they looked at them, then they looked at Marion in shock.

"It was Jody who told me about what happened to you in Montana. When she described the guy who attacked, and the marks on the first victim's face I started to wonder, and when the other two were found, with the exact same markings, I figured it was high time I called you." He explained, as Sam and Dean exchanged significant glances with one another.

They were looking at the crime scene photos, at the close-ups of the victim's faces. Gory as they were, it wasn't the slit garrotted throat that drew their attention. It was their eyes. Their eyes were marred with freshly cut scars. Pentagrams had been cut into their skin, surrounding their eyes.

This wasn't the first time they had seen these markings

Because these markings were the same as those on the troops of a group of people trying their hardest to kill them.

XX

Ember and Veltas appeared in the centre of the cemetery which they had made their home, in the middle of a large stone mausoleum large enough to accommodate the ten troops. Her appearance made the ten members of the Ancilla, eight of the usual rank and file, one of the elite and one commander, this one's eyes gouged out with the shape of a devil's fork in place of their eyes, all stand to attention.

Ember gestured for them to stand down and get back to work, as Wendy came out of the shadows, shuffling up to her mistress as Veltas went to inspect the troops preparations.

"It has begun, and I can confirm that the Winchesters have arrived in town. It looks like your plan will work mistress." She said, and Ember smiled as she sank into a stone chair that looked like a throne, crossing her long, booted legs with a smirk on her face.

"Excellent. You've done all you can Wendy, go back to the castle." She dismissed, and Wendy frowned.

"But mistress..." she protested, and Ember glared, eyes flashing yellow.

"Do not try my patience Wendy, you are still in disgrace for your illegal action in joining Delphus' attack on the Winchesters. Get out of my sight. If I need you, I will summon you, but I shouldn't do, I have no need for zombies." She said, and Wendy bowed low.

"Apologies once again mistress." She said, and was about to go when Ember touched her shoulder, her gaze softened.

"Do not humiliate me before the others ever again handmaiden, or else, you won't be allowed to apologise, as I will have no choice but to kill you. Clear?" she asked, and Wendy nodded.

"Perfectly my lady." She said with a slight gulp, and Veltas approached, a dark grin on his face.

"The troops preparations are coming apace, are you sure we don't need her?" he asked, and Ember nodded.

"Yes Veltas, I am, my plan requires patience, secrecy and cunning, and zombies, despite Wendy's considerable talents, do not offer that. The Ancilla we have will suffice I assure you, relax." She soothed, and he did so, sitting down on top of a tomb.

She then turned to Wendy, a slight grin.

"I need a woman's opinion my friend. Sam or Dean?" she asked, and Wendy looked at her sceptically.

"Even forced, neither of those two would ever go near me with a ten foot barge pole unless it was to kill me." She pointed out and Ember chuckled.

"I know that. But, if the world was your oyster, which one would you want?" she asked curiously, and Wendy frowned thoughtfully before answering.

"Sam I suspect, why?" she asked, and Ember grinned.

"Because I have plans for both of them, and I needed to see which one I was going to play with. I happen to agree by the way. So, I will play with Sam...by playing with Dean. Veltas, as I make my moves, you will keep Sam and their sheriff friend occupied while I deal with Dean, understood?" she asked, and Veltas nodded.

"Of course, but what do you have planned?" he asked, and she grinned maliciously.

"You will see in time. Continue with our preparations, while I head to the hotel. Wendy, if I need you, I will send for you. And mark this day well. Because this is the beginning of the Winchester's last hunt." She said darkly, her yellow eyes flashing evilly in the dark mausoleum.

**And here we go with the third of our arc!**

**Marion is back and will be back for the story, but hes not the only thing thats going on. Plots are afoot within the Perpurigo, Tyers is closing in on Sam and Dean and what's more, Ember has a plan to crush the boys once and for all. Threefold deaths (thank you Teen Wolf for the idea), cleaning rituals and scarring, just what is going on here?**

**And I must confess, I didnt have any idea what Mueller originally wanted the boys for other than to be his dogsbodies, but that story changed but I now know why he wants them in this new line, and he will continue to feature throughout the stories. **

**But, here we are with a brand new story, so, you know the drill, I'm at work tomorrow, so I need to get up early and I like to wake up to reviews, so do a guy a favour and leave lots of reviews, they make my day. So, as always, please read and review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural (I think this is Supernatural, not Teen Wolf)**

Scarred Vision

Marion had decided that he really hated it when Dean was right. As he had predicted, they had found another body similarly mutilated the next day, forcing a grumpy Marion to abandon his bacon roll and head to the crime scene, telling the boys he would call them when he needed them. This left Dean and Sam sitting in the kitchen, contemplating their own bacon rolls with a lot on their mind.

"Alright Sammy, time to put your thinking cap on. Are you sure there isn't anything in any of the books in the bunker that will help us, because whoever these guys are, they're getting bigger and bolder in what they're doing." Dean said darkly, making Sam frowned.

"No, I haven't found anything that might help us Dean. Whoever and whatever these guys are, they mean serious business, mutilations aren't exactly a good way of keeping hidden. What worries me is that they're now moving around in the open, before when they were just trying to kill us it was bad enough but now it's getting harder and harder to cover up what they're doing." He said, and Dean looked at him sceptically.

"Alright, if we get implicated that might be a problem but what's got you so worried about it now?" he asked curiously, and Sam looked at him patiently.

"Because they're making their moves in the open Dean. Which means that before now they've been careful to keep hidden, that's why we can't find out anything about them, but if they're moving around in the open it's like they don't care anymore. This is getting dangerous." He said worriedly, and Dean deflated.

"Great. Another round of the Apocalypse maybe?" he asked, but Sam wasn't convinced.

"I don't think so, they wouldn't be trying so hard to kill us I reckon. Look what happened last year when we stopped Raphael, he risked torching the world because he was cutting too many corners on it, I reckon they would have learned their lesson and not tried to kill the main vessels. No, I reckon this is something else, problem is I can't think what." He said in irritation and Dean pulled out their dad's journal and started thumbing through the pages.

"If you've messed up my filing system so help me..." Sam warned under his breath, making Dean grin, vowing to mix all the books up when they got home just to wind him up.

"No I just took this one, I thought there was something about threefold deaths here, maybe it isn't the bald dudes who are doing it." He theorised, but Sam shook his head.

"I already checked it, it was some pagan god some nut job was sacrificing too, which doesn't help us. Unless of course we find a pagan god with scratched out eyes like the bald dudes, I doubt it will help us." He said, and Dean looked at his brother ponderingly.

"Worship's a thought...some sort of weird ass cult? That would explain it." He suggested, and Sam had to admit, it was the best idea they had right now.

"Good point, but that doesn't help us much right now. Like where the hell did the cult come from, why do they want us dead, all that stuff." Sam said, frowning as he tried to puzzle it out, and Dean grinned.

"Well isn't it obvious? They want us dead because we're so awesome. Well I am anyway." He said, earning him a coy grin from Sam.

"Yeah, you're awesome...except you're afraid to sleep in a room on your own." He said teasingly, and Dean glared at him.

"I am not! I'm perfectly capable of sleeping in a room on my own, it's you who needs someone in the room with you." He said brattily, and Sam laughed.

"Sure it is. Were you alright having me in the same room as you again? You have a severe case of separation anxiety." He said mockingly, and Dean glowered.

"Unless you want me to separate something you need from the rest of you, not that you use it very often, you'll quit it. Right, we better get ready to go and help Marion. And since you think I have separation anxiety, which I don't, you can stay down here while I get changed." He said, not noticing the large grin on his brother's face as he left the room.

XX

"The Winchesters are definitely in town my lady, and our soldier's action has whetted their appetite. They will undoubtedly play into your hands." Veltas reported to Ember as she sang to herself in the shower of her hotel room.

"Excellent. The two of them will play right into my hands. Have you decided which trooper we should use for our little game of cat and mouse?" she asked as she left the shower, a towel wrapped around her slim, tanned body, her red hair hanging down her back, and she smirked slightly as she noticed Veltas took a little extra attention of her than he usually did.

"Um...yes, we figured the commander would be a good choice. After all, the Winchesters have yet to encounter one such as he, and besides, he has enough...anomalies, that he will provide an interesting conundrum for the young hunters." He said with a deadly grin and she smirked.

"Quite right, very clever. My reserve squads are ready?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Yes my lady, though we anticipate little resistance. We have studied the archives for information, and we have made use of the case studies of Roanoake and Rivergrove. It will be fairly simple to bring the entire town under our complete control when the time is right. However, I have learned something from my little mole." He said, and she looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I trust your little mole will not interfere with my plans my dear Veltas, or I will have to skin him." She snarled, and he bowed his head respectfully.

"Of course not Ember. But my mole is on the way here, which could cause potential problems if they are on the outside looking in when the time comes, it could undo your plans." He pointed out, and she frowned thoughtfully, her long, red nailed fingers tapping her chin in contemplation.

"Perhaps, but perhaps it can be used to our advantage. After all, should the Winchesters cursed luck come through at the wrong time and they should escape me, it is always better to have a backup. And remember, while we are taking inspiration from the towns of Roanoake and Rivergrove, they aren't the objective, the Winchesters are. Keep me appraised of their progress. Anything else?" she asked, looking for her clothes.

"Just one more thing my lady, Seraphim has doubts." He said nervously, and her eyes flashed yellow as she whipped to face him.

"Doubts? What doubts does the arrogant overbearing fool have?" she hissed angrily, and Veltas patted the air to try and calm his superior.

"Remember my lady, I'm just the messenger, I share your sentiments on the angels among us, irritating the lot of them. He is worried that such an overt show of force by the Perpurigo could lure Naomi and Crowley out from under their rocks and encourage them to interfere with our affairs." He informed her, and she rolled her eyes before collapsing mostly naked into a seat, using her long fingers to massage her temple.

"That overbearing angel truly is the limit, I don't know why Ophanim puts up with him. Doesn't his tiny angelic mind grasp the fact that that's why we are dealing with rivals of Crowley and Naomi, to leave them indebted to us as well as out of the way? Or is that too sophisticated a concept for him to grasp?" she growled menacingly, making Veltas chuckle.

While on the whole the Perpurigo did get on with one another fairly well, as Ember was the leader of the demon faction and Seraphim the leader of the angel faction, they as a species tended not to get on, Ember, like the rest of the group that weren't the other angels, considered Seraphim arrogant, overbearing, interfering and irksome, while he found her disrespectful, ignorant, rebellious and callous, which didn't make for a good combination, and it usually required the work of their two deputies, or of Lexii, to keep the two from killing each other, which the rest of the council was convinced would be an incredibly close match indeed.

"Apparently so. He also accuses you of going through with this plan for less than honourable intentions." He said with a small smile and she looked at him in disbelief.

"Hello, demon." She said, as though it were obvious, and to Veltas, a demon himself and one of her two deputies, it certainly was.

"I know that Ember, but he doesn't. He accuses you of using this opportunity to be, what was it he said, promiscuous." He said with a slight chuckle and she shook her head in disdain.

"What, just because he's been shagging Ophanim for millennia I can't have any fun because she doesn't get any? Poor girl, I wonder what she sees in him. Lexii reckons he must have a huge cock." She said dismissively, making Veltas snort in amusement.

"Go back to the castle and inform our enlightened leader that this is my mission and hence my business. And remind him that if he and Ophanim like his nose the way it is, he should keep it out of my business." She snarled, and he bowed and vanished back home, leaving her to groan in amazement as the lead angel's stupidity. Did she tell him how to do her job? No. The fact that she could do it better was irrelevant.

But Seraphim aside, she did have a job to do, and it was time she got down to it. Time for the cat to go out to play.

XX

Niandra and Veronica weren't making any progress. They still could not perceive anything of the threat that the Perpurigo was facing, and their inability to divine the future was seriously getting on their nerves. A dark threat was out there, and threatened the entire group, but aside from a few half seen visions, they couldn't break the fog that surrounded all of the Perpurigo, these mysterious threats in the dark.

"I think we're going to have to summon the other seers, we aren't getting anywhere." Veronica said despondently, despite Niandra gently running her hand down her back.

"I agree. This threat is becoming all too real, and it isn't helping us at all. Whatever this threat is, it's only getting closer, and we are no closer to finding out what it is. We need the support of the seers." She agreed, and Veronica frowned sadly.

"What's happening my love? Something strange is going on here, I've got a feeling of approaching calamity, and I can't shake it, something bad is going to happen, I know it." She said sadly, and Niandra kissed her shoulder.

"No my dear, I won't let anything bad happen to you, I promise. We're safe here in the castle lover, nothing can harm us within these walls. Summon the other seers, we must make preparations, the newest of them will need to be prepared to enter the meld." She said, and Veronica bowed, kissed her lover's cheek, and left the room to make the preparations.

Niandra frowned. Veronica had never been like that before, so scared that she might be harmed within the castle. An enemy had never been able to enter the castle before, and they certainly wouldn't start now. But...she had to admit, her sense of fear and unease was growing. This threat they were failing to perceive was going nowhere, and there were unseen games being played within the walls, she was sure of that much. But, by their very nature, they were unseen, and the truth behind these threats couldn't be perceived.

But, she perceived, something was coming for them all. That much was clear, a storm was rising, and soon it would engulf them all.

XX

This was intolerable. The seers would now all pool their resources, which meant there was a chance, however slight, that one of them might divine what it was that was planned. Action would have to be taken. No one could be allowed to discover what was going on behind closed doors.

But that meant extreme courses of action would now be the norm. There was no choice in any of this now.

No choice at all.

XX

Casting aspersions didn't seem to be working, either that or Seraphim was just dim. Granted he hadn't been doing it for very long, but that wasn't the point, the arrogant leader of the Perpurigo had just dismissed his concerns. He had tried to cast doubt on Niandra's abilities, to make sure she wasn't believed even if she did foresee something. However, with the added power of the rest of the seers, there would be no escaping what she might tell them. She would tell them everything.

He had to make a move. He didn't want to use a violent solution to all this, but the rest of the Perpurigo couldn't be allowed to realise what he was up to and she could easily undo all his plans.

So it was with a heavy heart that for the good of all, he had to hurt just the one.

XX

So, the seers were getting desperate, as expected. They were being whipped into a blind panic by their inability to predict what was coming, and their actions were now making them targets for the factions within the group, factions that were steadily growing in power and would soon decide the fate of the entire group, if not the entire world.

But regardless, all would suit their ends, because they would be the last one standing.

XX

"You ok?" Sam asked, hiding a grin as Dean fidgeted in his seat uncomfortably.

"No! Someone must have used some crappy detergent before we did our washing, it's like having the clap all over again." Dean complained, his pants driving him mad, and Sam looked at him in surprise.

"You actually had the clap?" he asked, and Dean growled in annoyance, both at his situation and the fact that he had allowed his blackmailing little brother to know that.

"Yeah, a bad night in Colorado when you were at uni, don't ask." He said, trying hard to ignore Sam's grin, who was taking an indecent amount of pleasure out of his brother's situation.

And then, about an hour after the itching had started, the penny finally dropped.

"You!" he cried in realisation and Sam burst out into laughter.

"Yeah, me. I always used to dismiss itching powder as juvenile but it's kind of fun!" he said brightly, as Dean squirmed and fidgeted.

"You're a dead man I hope you realise that. Jake, lightning, Anna, Lucifer, Lilith, Raphael, everyone who's ever killed you, nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you after we get back to Marion's, you hear me?" Dean vowed as his brother continued to laugh as they approached the house where Marion had been called to.

Maintaining control of his laughter, and Dean trying to control his fidgeting, they entered the crime scene, flashing their badges and headed straight over to Marion, who gave a nod to dismiss the other officers at the scene. Noticing Dean's sour expression, he looked at him curiously.

"What's up with you?" he asked, and Sam grinned.

"He's feeling a little itchy today that's all." He said in a sing song voice which just wound Dean up anymore.

"You don't think you could do a two for one deal on murder investigations? Only he needs to be taught a lesson, he put itching powder in my pants." He complained, making Marion chuckle.

"We're trying to work boys." He chided slightly though he was still laughing at Deans misfortune.

Ignoring Dean's discomfort, Sam looked at the body, which had been covered over with a blanket.

"What's the story?" he asked as Dean fidgeted.

Marion frowned grimly.

"Thirty two year old woman by the name of Elaine Rigsby. Died the exact same way as the others, the threefold death, and then the eye mutilation, though it looks like they weren't interrupted this time, there was nothing left behind." He said, his tone a little odd and Sam looked up at him as he pulled back the cover to examine the body.

"You ok?" he asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, it's just I knew this one as well, at least in passing, I've known them all in passing." He said, and Dean, clawing at himself with no decorum, looked at him curiously.

"What do you mean you knew them all in passing?" he asked and Marion sighed.

"I haven't seen much of them in the last year, but before Valente killed everyone in the station, they were frequent visitors to the station. Elaine here was the fiancée of one of the officers that he killed." He said, and Sam frowned.

"What about the others?" he asked, and Marion's eyes widened in realisation.

"Wait, you think they're all linked in some way?" he asked, his heart beginning to pound with excitement, and Dean nodded.

"Could be, if they were all linked in some way to the people Valente killed, that could explain it, it could be the bald dudes are trying to kill everyone who was in any way connected with Valente massacring the station." He said, going back to clawing at himself.

Shaking his head at his brother's lack of decorum, Sam looked up at Marion.

"The other three victims, were they related in any way to the massacre victims?" he asked, and Marion nodded.

"Now that I think about it, yes. The first was the one who found them, the second was the sister of one of the victims and the third was the nephew of one of the older cops." He explained, and Sam nodded.

"That might be it then, it still doesn't explain what this lot are doing it for, but it does get us closer to finding out what they're doing. Marion, are there any other relations to the victims, or people marginally linked to the massacre, left in the town?" he asked, and Marion frowned.

"I can't think of any off the top of my head it'll be in the file back at the station. Come on. You too fleabag." Marion ordered, making Dean curse both him and Sam as they headed out of the door.

XX

Ember smiled as she looked through her scrying glass. A handy trick that Wendy had taught her. Time for her to make her big entrance into the lives of the Winchesters. Softly softly catchey monkey was the way forward though, there would be a time to reveal herself, but not until much later.

She had a job to do here in town, and quite frankly the small town of Brandon, associated as it was with the massacre that that blasted Leviathan had performed the year before, was a painful reminded for the entire Perpurigo of how badly they had failed. They had been trying to clean up the mess of the Apocalypse and the civil war in heaven when the Leviathans had been set loose and they had suffered severe losses in their first few confrontations with the beasts. The massacre had been as much their failure as it had been anyone else's. But now, the entire painful episode was soon to be cleared up, she would manipulate things in such a way that in one swift stroke they could wipe out the last remnants of the survivors of the entire debacle, and take out the Winchesters in the process.

Crossing to her dresser, she supposed she better do herself up. It would take a while to make herself look good enough for her big entrance.

And then Dean would be putty in her hands.

XX

"Right, there are three people left in town with any connection to the massacre aside from the three of us. One of them is Charlie's sister." Marion said significantly, making Sam groan, just their luck.

"What about the other two, and how were they all connected with the massacre?" Dean asked, scratching at himself again.

"One was the attending officer, he should have been in the station except he was dealing with a domestic, he came back not long after it was discovered and called it in. Hang on that means the ones involved in the domestic might be involved too, I'll get their names in a second. Charlie's sister, Lauren, is linked because she was Charlie's sister and the other is the coroner who basically had to hush the thing up as much as possible for public consumption. How are we meant to tell which one is a potential target this time round when they all freaking are?" Marion complained as he hurriedly studied the notes.

Sam, who had been looking at a map of where the bodies were discovered, shrugged uselessly.

"This doesn't help, there's no rhyme or reason for any of them to have been killed the way they were. Can we cover all the places we need to, or are we too far out to help each other if we run into one of the bald guys?" he asked, and Marion gnawed his lip nervously.

"Not to help each other no. We'd be too spread out and Jody told me how badly you got flattened by even one of these guys, what if there's more?" he pointed out, but Dean shook his head.

"That wasn't really our fault. We were caught completely by surprise, and we'd already been smacked around a bit by the alchemist and Jacob when we were attacked, last time we'd just gotten back into our own bodies and we put up a fairly decent fight, and we managed to win, and they were backed up by zombies. Don't get me wrong, they're tough sons of bitches but they aren't invincible like we first thought. And besides, lopping their heads off does work." Dean explained, finishing brightly before he went back to scratching himself.

"So all we need to do now is figure out which one is being targeted and then try and save them." Sam said worriedly, and Marion frowned.

"I could send officers to each house, but I reckon that these guys who're trying to kill you both could easily flatten anybody I send, which means it's most likely up to you two. But if I were a betting person, I would say that they're most likely to go after Charlie's sister. If we're right and this is all because of Valente's massacre, it makes sense that the family of one of the people in it up to their neck is their next victim. Shall we go?" he asked, and the three of them headed for the parking lot, and Dean grinned as he looked at the police car Marion was leading them to.

"Can I turn on the siren?" he asked excitedly, making Sam snigger.

"You're such a child." He said in amusement, checking he had his gun and an angel blade stowed safely.

"I suppose so." Marion said, clambering in and as soon as the boys were in, he gunned the car out of the parking lot, Dean taking great joy in starting the siren.

"Why would these guys be so determined to kill anyone even distantly connected with the Valente Massacre, it doesn't make sense." Sam, sitting in the back, mused to himself, and Dean frowned.

"Hmm, the other times we met these guys they were trying to kill us. What if that's their reason, because we were so involved with Valente?" he theorised.

"What, a Leviathan clean up crew?" Marion posed as he sent the car screeching down the road, and Dean shrugged.

"Don't know, maybe. Sure, it doesn't explain where the hell they were last year when we needed them but that might be it." He reasoned, and Sam thought about it seriously, it was a decent suggestion, but even if they were a Leviathan clean up crew, it still left many questions unanswered, such as why they were only finding out about them now.

Marion screeched the car to a stop right outside the house, and without wasting any time, Sam and Dean sprang from the car, running for the front door, weapons already in hand, with Dean banging the door open with his shoulder./

"I hate it when we're right." Dean grumbled, bringing his gun up, ready to fire.

The woman, who was apparently Charlie's sister, was already dead, her throat slit and her body bound to a long thin vase which held a small tree of some sort. However, the murderer was still there, various items scattered around the place so he could finish his ritual. Seeing that he was discovered, the murderer got to his feet and turned to face Sam and Dean.

This guy was clearly an entirely different box of frogs than the others they had faced. He was taller, bulkier and more muscular. Bald like all his allies, his eyes were also sealed shut, with tridents scratched into his eyeballs. He was clad in a light armour plate which covered his chest and his black robes. There were also various tattoos on his bald head, and on each of his knuckles, which were also covered with knuckle dusters. And in his hands were two deadly looking maces.

He gave a guttural growl, and moved towards Sam and Dean, maces swinging as he came in for the attack. The boys didn't waste much time, opening fire on their attacker, but the armour and his own natural defences ensured the bullets did little if any damage. He then closed, crashing what was apparently an armoured knee right into Sam's stomach. As Sam wheezed, the attacker slammed a mace down on the back of his head, dropping him like a stone with a feeble grunt.

"Sam!" Dean yelled in alarm at his faintly stirring brother, but before he could attend to him, the attacker turned, crashing a mace into Dean's chest. Dean felt his breath catch as his chest was assaulted, sending him flying across the room and sending him crashing through a glass table. As Dean struggled to get back to his feet, the assassin bore down on him, twirling both maces as he advanced. Sam feebly managed to stir, opening fire into the assassin's less protected back. As the bullets impacted, the assassin turned, directing his sightless eyes onto Sam, who hastily scrabbled to his feet, looking anxious, and Dean, hauling himself out the remains of the table, saw a trickle of blood coming from the back of his brother's head.

Sam staggered, the room was spinning around him, his breath was a little laboured and he really didn't feel well. He could also feel a small trickle of blood coming from the back of his head as he stood to face the oncoming assassin. The assassin swung his maces, Sam barely dodging and lunging up with the angel blade that he had brought with him. The attacker however merely caught Sam's wrist, pointed the blade away from him then threw Sam crashing into the wall, the blade spiralling across the room. Sam groaned and tried to get out of the crater that had just been made, but the attacker didn't allow him to get up, and marched towards him with the intention of crushing him when Dean appeared from nowhere and tackled him in the waist to knock him off his feet. All that happened was that Dean gave himself a sore shoulder as he bounced back off the assassin, thudding to the ground with a thump as the assassin instead decided to focus on him.

Dean quickly crawled backwards to avoid the deadly killer and his swinging maces. Dean yelped as he brought one down, rolling to the side to avoid the killing blow, and quickly rolling back to avoid the next one. Dean then lunged, grabbing hold of one of the maces and wrenching it from the assassin's hand. The assassin made a noise in his throat, before pummelling Dean's face with his fist. Dean yowled in pain, his head springing back and blood promptly pouring from his nose as his head slammed into the ground. The assassin then kicked Dean in the side, rolling him over himself, forcing Dean to curl into himself to try and protect himself from the next attack.

It never came as a staggering and uneasy Sam arrived from nowhere, hauling the assassin away from his brother. The assassin span, punching Sam in the side of the head and sending him crashing into the wall, where he stood dazed, his eyes sliding in and out of focus. The assassin swung the mace, this time catching Sam in the temple and sending him crashing through a sideboard, before the man heaved Sam into the air as if he were nothing, which was no mean feat, and bodily threw him through the window, shattering it and sending glass flying everywhere.

"Sam..." Dean said with a groan, abandoning all pretence and emptying his gun at the attacker.

The assassin turned, snarling, and heaved Dean up by the neck. Dean choked violently, legs kicking as the door flew open once again, revealing Marion.

"Drop him!" he ordered, and surprisingly the man obliged, throwing Dean hurtling across the room, crashing through the door to the cupboard under the stairs. Marion opened fire on the assassin, using all of his rounds, but that too was useless, the man just standing stock still before he darted towards the sheriff, mace swinging to take Marion down.

Marion hobbled backwards, cursing as he did so, the action straining his stump of a leg. The assassin then attacked, swinging the mace, but Marion, deciding discretion was the better part of valour, fell backwards, slamming his spent gun into the assassin's jaw. Grunting in irritation, the assassin reached down, hauled Marion up by the shirt and raised his knee, laying Marion on it, about to break him in half.

And it was then that the angel blade that Sam had dropped erupted through his forehead.

Marion was dropped to the floor in an undignified heap as blood and brains spurted from the assassin's wound, before the immense body keeled over and crashed to the floor, revealing a pained, panting and gasping Dean behind their attacker, supporting himself by gripping the staircase, his face white and his eyes bleary. Moving past Marion, he headed out to attend to his baby brother while Marion reached for his radio.

"This is the sheriff, wounded officers, send an ambulance and coroner vans to Crestweir Drive, asap." He gasped, as he pulled himself out on his elbows to peer outside, to where Dean was cradling his unconscious brother's head, his own eyes drooping as he too drifted into unconsciousness.

XX

"Will they be ok doc?" Marion asked the paramedics who were attending to Sam and Dean, Dean, who was slightly more awake and alert, and Sam, who was doped up to the eyeballs and looking like he just wanted to fall asleep right there and then.

"Yes they should be, they took a hell of a beating though, you were lucky you got off as easily as you did." The paramedic warned, and Marion scowled.

"Would have been there sooner if this damn leg of mine hadn't slowed me down. Pity we didn't get there in time though." He mused, and the paramedic sent a disturbed look at the coroner's van containing the assassin.

"You were lucky to survive, that guy was one serious man monster. You reckon he's the one who's been killing everyone?" he asked and Marion shrugged.

"I wish I knew son, certainly looks that way but there's no way of telling till we know a bit more. And his autopsy will have to wait till we do Charlie's sister. See you later son." He said, clomping over to where Dean and Sam were.

"I'll be fine, just give me the drugs." Dean ordered weakly, and the female paramedic smiled.

"We did that to your brother, and look at the mess we're in, he just gave us a rendition of the Top Cat theme tune." She said in amusement and Dean laughed slightly.

"Typical, can't take his drugs or his drink." He said wryly.

The paramedic passed Dean the drugs then went outside the ambulance, allowing Marion to talk to Dean.

"You ok? You took a hell of a beating, that guy was seriously bad news." He said darkly, and Dean nodded.

"I'm better off than I was last time, these guys are seriously strong, I would love to know what the hell they are." He complained, and Marion surveyed the coroner's van suspiciously.

"We might find out a little more tomorrow, we're doing an autopsy to see if we can't find anything out about him. Nasty piece of work. Sorry I took so long son, my leg wouldn't fix itself and it took me a while to get it to cooperate." He apologised, but Dean waved him off.

"It's fine, no offence to you but with your leg in the way you might have gotten killed, the son of a bitch nearly got me and Sam. Speaking of, we better go and get him." He said, hobbling to the next ambulance over.

"So I take it you boys still have no idea who you're dealing with?" Marion asked, and Dean shook his head.

"Nope, not got any idea. All we know is they're nasty and strong and capable of kicking our asses from here to next week. It's like they're not even human they can take so much punishment, but they have to be, the entire thing doesn't make sense." Dean said with a scowl as they found Sam lying down in his ambulance.

"He's got a slight concussion and he's doused up on painkillers. Enjoy." The paramedic said with a wide grin, and Dean sighed, the only thing worse than a drunk Sammy was a high Sammy, he got all mushy and childlike in this state.

"Ok thanks. Hey Sammy, how you feeling?" Dean asked, his eyes scanning his brother to make sure he was as alright as he could be given the circumstances.

"Dean!" Sam cried happily, making Dean roll his eyes, slightly amused.

"Yeah good to see you too little brother."

"They say I've got a concussion. Lucky my head wasn't scrambled they said. Scrambled, like eggs you know? I like eggs...can we have some eggs later?" he asked hopefully, and Marion smiled in amusement.

"First thing tomorrow, nice plate of scrambled eggs for you." He promised, and Sam looked pleadingly with Dean.

"Did we get him? The nasty bad man? Did you kill him Dean?" he asked hopefully, and Dean nodded.

"Sure did Sammy, it was a close thing but I got him. I was more worried about you considering you're in a state."

"State? South Dakota silly." Sam supplied, apparently helpfully and Dean shook his head, his brother drove him mad when he was doused up to the eyeballs on drugs.

"How about we get you home to bed?" Dean asked patiently, and Marion nodded.

"That sounds good, you've had a hard day Sam, a little sleep and you'll be right as rain." He said, but this was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Sam screwed up his nose.

"No, I don't like the rain, it makes me wet and my hair gets all tangled. I like the sun and the snow. Dean likes the rain, and thunder, he says they're cool but I reckon it's just because he's a mean old misery guts." Sam elaborated making Marion laugh at the perturbed look on Dean's face.

"Hey faceache, I'm not a misery guts." He said irritably, and Sam looked up at him with big soulful eyes which were on the verge of filling with tears.

"Don't yell at me Dean, I didn't mean to upset you, I'm sorry." He begged and Dean couldn't help it, he smiled, a pain in the ass when he was high he might be, but he couldn't deny that he wasn't good value for money.

"I'm not mad. Come on gigantor, let's get you home, it's past your bedtime." He said in amusement, and Marion chuckled.

"I'll help you get him sorted then I'll head back to the station, deal with the paperwork and stuff. Come on Sam, you want to ride in the front?" Marion asked as if he were talking to a child, and Sam grinned.

"Yay in the front! Your police cars are too small for my silly big legs." He complained with a pout, and Marion chuckled.

"Tell you what, you can even turn on the siren too, how's that sound?" he asked in his young person voice and Sam beamed with excitement and started trying to hobble to the car.

"Hey, hold your horses sasquatch, wait for me." Dean ordered, supporting his brother.

"Horsey! You were scared of that horse Bobby made you ride." He reminded his brother and Dean scowled.

"Yeah, but you were scared of the pig." He reminded tartly, and Sam stuck his tongue out.

"It was a mean pig, and it smelled bad too." He reminded as Dean got Sam into the passenger seat.

"I see what you mean, he really can't hold his drugs." Marion said in amusement as Dean climbed in behind his brother.

"Or his booze, mind you he's not as bad as he used to be, now he can keep up with me most of the night. Sammy, you're not a dog!" Dean scolded, as his brother was sticking his head out of the window.

Laughing, Marion headed to his own seat, sitting down and nodding to Sam, who with a brilliant grin, turned on the siren. Clapping his hands excitedly as Marion drove the car away from the crime scene, Sam put his hands up in the air.

"Wheeee!" he cried happily, and Dean, sniggering in the back, couldn't help but feel good that his brother was having such a good time.

XX

"Another murder in Brandon, South Dakota. You really think the Winchesters are there?" Grayson asked as they refuelled the van, and Tyers nodded.

"It's a pretty fair bet if you ask me, and besides, we have nothing else to go on. I just wish we knew why the director wanted them so bad, it's driving me nuts not knowing what he wants with them." She said with a scowl, just as Tomas stuck his head out of the van.

"Hey, I pulled up some speed camera footage of Brandon, someone was flashed entering the town, and just in front of them is a car that looks suspiciously like a 67 Impala." He informed them and Tyers grinned.

"Brilliant. Let's get this horse filled up and see if we can't catch ourselves a couple of Winchesters. And when we get to Brandon, there'll be no screwing about. We go in, get them and get gone. No fall ups." She said dangerously as they finished filling up the van.

XX

"But Dean, I don't want to go to bed! I want to stay up and watch cartoons!" Sam complained as his brother tried to get him up the stairs, and Dean, who was panting with the exertion, gave a grumpy sigh.

"You can watch cartoons in the morning like you always do, you don't watch them at night." He told him, and Sam nodded his head defiantly.

"I do too! I watch them after you fall asleep about nine oclock because you're getting old." He said with a grin and Dean glowered.

"You're lucky you're high, or I'd hit you for that. Come on Sammy, bed time, you said yourself all the good cartoons are on in the morning." He said, trying to push his stubborn brother up the stairs, but it seemed like all he was doing was making himself more tired.

"That's true." Sam admitted and moved on his own volition, making Dean, who had been trying to push him at the time, fall facefirst onto the stairs.

"Ow." He grumbled as Sam, albeit unsteadily, reached the top of the stairs.

"Come on slowpoke! Dean is a slowpoke, a great big dope, he plays sex games with lots of rope..." Sam sang to himself, and Dean looked in alarm at Marion, who shrugged.

"Don't look at me, he's your brother." He pointed out, and Dean nodded.

"Yeah but how does he know about the sex games?" he asked, and Marion closed his eyes in disdain.

"Could have gone my entire life without that image thank you Dean." He said sounding slightly depressed and Dean grinned.

"Just your friendly hunter service." He said cheerfully, heading up after his brother.

Entering the room, they found Sam considering the bed.

"It's still too early to go to bed." He complained, but Marion shook his head.

"No it isn't son, you've had a busy day and you've been bashed around, turn in early." Marion advised, and Sam looked as though he were still considering.

"And if you won't, you won't get eggs for breakfast." Dean told him, and he pouted.

"Alright, you win. But I'm not doing this because I want eggs." He said with dignity as he stripped off without assistance and got under the covers.

"Why are you doing it then?" Dean asked with a grin.

"I'm doing it because you're my big brother and I love you and you asked nicely. And I like Marion too." Sam said certainly, and Marion smiled.

"And I'm very fond of you too son. You get a nice long rest." He advised, and Sam nodded before lying down, and Dean pointed to the door.

"Night Sammy." He said as he followed Marion from the room, groaning as he got outside, while Marion laughed.

"Oh it was worth bringing you boys here just to see that." He said as he finished laughing and Dean groaned.

"Ugh, it wouldn't be so bad but he doesn't remember anything the next day so I can't even wind him up. Right, he should sleep till morning now." He said in relief as Marion headed down the stairs.

"Do you think it's over?" Marion asked, because he would certainly like his town to be safe again.

Dean frowned.

"I don't know. We've met them three times, and the first time they just seemed determined to kill me and Flight Officer Kite up there so there was only one of them. When we met them in Massachusetts, they had a goal in mind, slaughter everyone before they slaughtered us so there was more of them, so there could be more of them out there, there's just no way of telling." Dean said, wincing as he lowered himself into a seat in the sitting room.

"Brilliant. So there could still be some majorly crazy nutjobs hanging around out there, that's all we need. Right, help yourself to a beer or something, tomorrow we can deal with the autopsy, and hopefully he'll be off the ceiling. I'll see you when I get back." Marion said before heading out, leaving Dean to think.

These guys, whoever the hell they were, were becoming a hell of a lot more dangerous, and he and Sam still knew virtually nothing about them. Twice now they had been almost killed by one solitary assassin, never mind an entire group of them like there had been in Stockbridge. These people, whoever they were, meant serious business, and they needed to find out who the hell was behind their attacks and stop them before things got even worse. Their attacks and ferocity were attacking, and as Sam had so kindly pointed out, they were getting on and couldn't keep getting thrown around like this, especially when Cas wasn't back to full strength and had vanished off the face of the earth again. They needed information. Perhaps it was time to go right to the source...and ask these lunatics who they were in person themselves.

XX

"Has it derailed your plans any?" Veltas asked as he and Ember sat in the bar across from the hotel she was staying in, sipping their drinks as if they were just simple companions. Of course, they were far more than that.

"It delays me a little, but an extra night won't make that much difference, I can cope. Besides, Aliens is on tv tonight and you know how I enjoy that movie." She said cheerfully, and Veltas chuckled.

"And once you have done your part, I get to do mine?" he asked, his tone tinged with excitement and she grinned wickedly.

"Indeed you do my dear Veltas. I'm slightly tempted to put myself in the way just so I can see their reaction, but I'm no good at playing the pathetic damsel in distress, that's more Niandra's job, I prefer to get my hands dirty as you know." She said, downing her whisky.

"I'm aware my lady. I have thirty troopers on standby, and the nine we already have, that makes a good round forty, more than enough to do what we need to do. I will begin at the hour of the beast tomorrow." He said, and she nodded.

"Yes, that should be fine, if I need more time I'll let you know." She informed him before he vanished.

She should have known the commander wouldn't make it easy for the Winchesters, after all, they were the best troops they had, he wasn't just going to roll over and die for her prey even if she had ordered him to allow himself to die.

However she was nothing if not adaptable, and she could overcome this slight bump in the road. And once she and Veltas made their move, the Winchesters, along with all of their other targets in Brandon, would cease to be a problem.

XX

"Heh, sorry Dean." Sam said sheepishly, having just been filled in on his antics the night before, as they entered the morgue the next morning, both of them slightly better off than they had been the night before.

"So you should be, you called me old!" Dean complained, making both Marion and Sam, filled with scrambled eggs as promised, grin.

"Yeah, sorry. Can't blame me though you are older than me." He reminded and Dean glared.

"Doesn't mean you should rub it in. How's your head anyway, you took a couple of nasty knocks." He said worriedly, and Sam shrugged.

"I'm fine mostly, my balance is still a bit off but other than that I'm fine. Do I really need to go to the hospital later?" he whined, and Dean nodded.

"Yep. Sue me for not wanting you to get another blood clot that could kill you." He said with maddening superiority and Sam relented, knowing full well he had lost this fight long before it had even started.

Marion entered the lab room, and the boys quickly spotted the small man who was performing the autopsy, actually so small that he was standing on a stool to carry out his job.

"Morning Bernard." Marion said in greeting, and the small wispily haired and bearded man turned to him and nodded in greeting.

"Good morning sheriff. And you two lads as well, welcome." He said, beckoning them closer as he worked on the mysterious attacker.

"Well, first things first doc, can we tie him in any way to the other murders?" Marion asked and the small man shook his head.

"Not conclusively I'm afraid Marion, you can tie him to the last but it could easily be someone else who performed the last murders. You see, there's no way of identifying him." He said, and Sam looked at him curiously.

"None at all?" he asked, and the mortician shook his head.

"Afraid not. However, if nothing else, he is a most interesting cadaver, I'll start at the bottom and work up. So, male, around mid thirties by my reckoning. As you can see he's very well built. However, that aside he has a hell of a lot of interesting scars. Some that look like knife blades, arrow wounds of all things, and bullet holes, all over his body you see? When I cut his chest open, that's when things got really interesting." He said, and Dean looked at him sceptically.

"Interesting how?" he asked, and the doctor pointed to the open chest.

"His ribs. They have small markings all over them, runes I'd say for want of a better word. Curiously, they match some of the tattoos on his head and on his knuckles. Very bizarre." He concluded, and Sam and Dean exchanged significant glances with each other, they had confused a few doctors like that themselves, the symbols were Enochian and protected them from angels.

"Along with that, the bullet wounds you inflicted on him ought to have killed him, but for some reason it seems like they didn't even affect him. Whatever happened to his eyes was very painful, they weren't sewn shut, they were sealed shut, hot poker job, must have hurt like hell. But just to make things even more painful, I reckon the eye was mostly intact when his eyes were sealed shut. Then, when the mutilation upon his eyes was performed, he would have felt it on his eye and on his lid, the pain would theoretically be enough to kill a man. He has no fingerprints, they appear to have been burned off, no hair, not even on the arms, legs or groin. And he also has no teeth and no tongue. Someone didn't want him enjoying his life, that's for damn sure. Oh and speaking of enjoying oneself, he also has no junk. He's been totally castrated, nothing of interest lies therein it would seem. So sheriff, it would seem our man is completely faceless, completely untraceable, but utterly dead, that's the best I've got I'm afraid." He said, and Sam looked at him hesitantly.

"Did you notice anything odd doc?"

The doctor shot him an unamused glance.

"Odder than everything I just described and the massive hole in his head? Not really. Though his blood test was rather odd, even that doesn't help us much, it's been corrupted." He stated, beckoning them over to his workstation.

"Corrupted, how?" Marion asked, limping over, and the doctor stood on another stool so he could peer into his telescope.

"There's abnormalities in the blood. Stuff that shouldn't be there, I have no idea what one of them might be though, I sent one off to the lab to see if they have anything on what it could be. The one I could identify was just as interesting, somehow the guy had sulphur in his blood. Here take a glance." He said, allowing Sam to look, and he frowned as he came back up, giving Dean a significant look.

"Good job doc. Anything else I should know about?" he asked, and the doctor shook his head.

"Not as far as I can see, but it looks like you might have to content yourself with what I gave you. Sorry sheriff." He said, but Marion shook his head.

"Don't worry doc, you were a great help. Let's go lads." He commanded, with Sam and Dean following him from the room.

"What was wrong with the blood? Other than the sulphur in it." Dean asked as soon as they were out of the doctor's earshot.

" Sulphur in the blood, doesn't that mean he was a demon then?" Marion mused as they headed back to the car, and Sam shrugged.

"Maybe, but I don't think so somehow. Mind you, he might have been, the way he usually tell if someone is a demon is kind of denied to us when we're dealing with these guys." Sam reasoned, and Dean had to admit, it was a good point.

"So what was the other thing?" he asked, and Sam looked disgruntled to say the least.

"The doc wouldn't recognise it, I don't even know what it's called but I did recognise it. Whatever it is, it points to angels, just like the marks on the ribs do." He said, and Dean looked at him curiously.

"Wait a minute, how do we know something points to angels by some weird thing in the blood, it could be some exotic disease or some such crap." He reasoned, and Sam looked at him guiltily.

"Because you once had it in your blood too, when you were resurrected by Cas." He explained, and Dean looked at him in confusion.

"How do you know what I had in my blood?" he asked, and Sam grinned.

"Well Bobby was a paranoid bastard, and I thought you coming back was too good to be true...at least until you started at bitching at me for something I hadn't even done." He reminded his brother tartly, making Dean go slightly red.

"But what is it, I want to know now too." Marion complained and Sam grinned.

"Well when you were asleep the first night you came back, we took some of your blood from the cut you made to prove to Bobby you weren't a shapeshifter. Just a little vial full, but Bobby was owed a favour by a local doctor and he examined the blood and found the weird thing that was in it. We were a bit skittish but then we found out Cas brought you back, it shows that angels have interfered with our bad guys too. True it still doesn't get us any closer to finding out who the hell they are, but it at least means that we now know angels and demons might be involved with them." He said, and Dean looked at him, aghast.

"Wait, you took my blood without my permission? Didn't you trust me?" he asked indignantly, and both Marion and Sam glared at him.

"Sam, I can see why he gets on your nerves at times." Marion admitted, and Sam grinned pointedly.

"Hurts doesn't it?" he asked cockily, making Dean fume.

"Alright, smart ass I get the point. So, angels and demons are involved with our mystery attackers, still doesn't help us figure anything out about them. What's our next move do you reckon?" he asked, and Marion frowned.

"It might be a good idea if we could find out where the hell our killer was acting out of, but when you're searching the town like that, it's like finding a needle in a haystack. So this is what we'll do. I'll rally the troops, get them on a house to house, see if anyone noticed anything strange. You pair can split hotspots between you, libraries, schools," he rattled off, and Dean interrupted.

"Bars?" he asked keenly, and Marion rolled his eyes.

"Yes bars, but remember, we're here to work as well. Alright, let's get to it, see what we can't find out, because if there's more of these nutters in town I want them out before they kill anyone else." He said, and Sam frowned.

"Well if that's the case, maybe you should round up the others who might be in danger, put them in protective custody, just in case. And maybe keep an eye on the doc and anyone at the lab too might be a good idea." He suggested, and Marion tapped his chin musingly.

"A good idea my boy, right, I'll tend to that as well. You pair, see what you can scrounge up. And Dean..." he said warningly, and Dean rolled his eyes.

"Yeah I know work before pleasure and all that, I got it." He said impatiently as the three of them headed their separate ways.

XX

Dean hadn't gotten anywhere. For someone so distinctive, their mysterious attacker certainly hadn't attracted any attention, which he was beginning to think meant there was only the one of them. But the threat of any more being out there was one he couldn't let go. That guy, along with the first, had nearly killed both him and Sam and they needed to know more before these guys got the advantage again, the last calls had been too close as they were. So, thoroughly fed up and feeling anxious, Dean entered the last bar on his list, heading straight to the bar, and keeping an eye out for any people who looked likely.

After half an hour though, after talking to the two people who looked haunted (one was a former soldier and the other had survived a bad fire), Dean figured he wasn't getting anywhere. The people who might know more wouldn't be in till tonight, once the sun had gone down now, these crowds were families, alcoholics and the ones who wanted to be alone. No one out at this time had seen any sign of the bald attackers with the slashed out eyes. He only hoped Sam or Marion were having better luck.

"You look worn out." A voice said from beside him, and Dean turned, and was momentarily taken aback by the beautiful woman who had appeared beside him.

Much the same height as he was, dressed in long black boots with leather trousers, and a black vest with a loose see through neck, she was bearing her white arms to the air. Her fingers were painted immaculately, a deep blood red. She had a beautiful face, sumptuous red lips, shining green eyes and red hair that was styled into a star like bun.

Dean grinned flirtatiously.

"Don't worry about me, I'm sure I can find something else to keep myself occupied." He said confidently, and she smirked.

"Really? Well, why not buy me a drink and see if I can't find some way to occupy you?" she purred, and Dean grinned in excitement, feeling an entirely different and much more pleasant itch in his pants than the one Sam had caused him to have.

"I might just do that. You got a name?" he asked, and she smirked, her green eyes glinting.

"Ember."

XX

Veronica flopped tiredly down onto her bed. Preparing the other seers for their joint seeing session had sapped both she and her mistress of their energy, and now that they were ready, they figured a night of rest, of proper rest, which basically meant no cuddling under Niandra's covers, would conduce to better seeing skills when they resumed in the morning.

Veronica didn't know what was going on. Something dark was affecting the Perpurigo, something was approaching and the entire sect was hovering on the edge of the abyss. Niandra was scared, in fact she was terrified, Veronica had never known her to be like this in all their years together. Not during the Apocalypse, not when she had thought she would be attracted to Zain rather than her, never had she been this scared.

And to be honest, she herself was scared. Niandra's fear was affecting her, she didn't like seeing her mistress in such a state, she was scared as well. And she knew enough to know that whatever was coming for them was bad, very bad for all of them. There were dark eddies and currents surrounding the entire group, and she was beginning to think they were within their own walls too.

Something bad was happening here, they knew nothing about it and whatever it was was getting worse, and threatening them all.

Veronica shivered. She shouldn't dwell on this, she was getting as scared and worried as Niandra was, and if both of their most powerful seers went down, the entire Perpurigo could be undermined.

Besides, she was being silly. Whatever was going on was still ages away, and she was safe here in the castle. She would feel safer in Niandra's arms, but she was safe regardless. Nothing could hurt her here.

A loud knock disturbed her from her musings, making her jump.

Cursing whoever was at the door, while trying to get her heart back under control, she crossed her room and opened the door to reveal the shadowy corridor outside.

And with a whoosh, black formless clawed shapes piled upon her, ripping her apart, spraying the walls with her blood as they attacked, her screams echoing up the dark and empty corridor, her body being ripped to shreds long after she had stopped screaming.

A click of the finger sent the daevas away, allowing the person who had been standing in the shadows all along to observe the daevas handiwork. Veronica had been ripped to shreds, blood was splattered over the walls and was now pooling around the remains of her body.

It was done. It had begun. The end of the Perpurigo had begun with the death of Veronica, and now, nothing would stop it.

They would remain unseen and unknown now. After all, Niandra wouldn't be able to see effectively with her lover dead. The threat of the seers was nullified, and what was more, people would be looking in all the wrong places and coming to all the wrong conclusions as they tried to figure this out. They were safe now.

Smirking, they turned, and abandoned the ruined body of Veronica to the night that would seen enshroud the entire Perpurigo.

**Well I hope its Supernatural or otherwise things are very confused. sorry this chapter took so long to write, I dont really know what happened, I blame aunt Gladys, she fed us with enough food to field an army as usual and it all went pear shaped from there.**

**Anyway, the plot thickens. The boys are getting closer to finding out more info about the Perpurigo but we still have a while before they do. Dean has played right into Ember's hands, just what does she have planned for the boys? And why should they be worried about Veltas? (by the way it was fun writing high sam, he just seemed really kid like in that episode in season five)**

**And speaking of the Perpurigo, who whacked poor Veronica? Now, as many of you are undoubtedly aware I'm no homophobe, I didnt whack Veronica for any reason other than I cant have the big bads being discovered in the third story, and it will cause a little chaos in the ranks of the enemy which is always handy. Well it would be if they were all in it together but obviously they're not, so just who and why was responsible for Veronica's death, and what does this mean for poor Niandra?  
**

**Next time we have a new enemy, an inquisition and a little harken back to season three as things go from bad to worse. And Ember is waiting in the wings for her chance to deal with the boys herself.**

**Speaking of such things, she isnt the only one waiting in the wings. We have a very special cameo that I suspect readers might like (the author could do without it but it needs to happen) in chapter five.**

**Right you lovely people, I'm starting at seven tomorrow instead of eight so I need to be up even earlier, so would all you lovely people please leave ltos of reviews for me to read in the morning, I would be very happy if you would! Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural**

Scarred Vision

"I take it your brother isn't going to bless us with his presence any time soon?" Marion asked as he and Sam shared a late night drink.

Sam sighed. He had tried to phone Dean, only for it to be cut off. When doing so the third time, the message had been received, Dean, the long absent player, was clearly back on the market and Sam's phoning was interfering with his attempts to seduce some hapless girl into bed with him.

Sam shook his head. It wasn't that he minded his brother being with a girl, far from it. It was just that the last few times Dean had become even slightly romantically entangled with anyone, it had bitten both of them in the ass. Eunice, the Gorgon Beta, an Alpha in all but name, was a good example of that when Dean had been turned to stone and Sam had basically had to take down a very powerful and pissed off Gorgon all by himself, with a little help from the ghost of Bobby.

Not that he could talk, he slept with girls, they generally died, but at least the reason they died was already being a pain in the ass, Dean's usually reared their ugly heads after the fact.

"Apparently not, he's back on the market and looks like he's trying to get his leg over. So, you took up hunting when Dean and I vanished?" he asked, and Marion nodded, setting a whisky down in front of Sam.

"Yeah, not much, just a bit, can't do too much, not with being a sheriff, but Jody and I muddle through. I've met a couple of hunters too, other than working with Garth. Some woman called Mabel, a young man called Indy and this fabby old guy called Felix." He recounted, and Sam grinned.

"Was Felix in a top hat?" he asked, and Marion nodded.

"Yeah, great guy. Jody had a case in Sioux Falls and I was looking at facing a cranky Djinn on my own when this guy doing the crossword heard me muttering to myself, and the two of us worked the case together. I've not done much though but still, enough that I reckon I've earned my stripes at the very least." He pointed out and Sam grinned.

"You did that last year, remember you were facing down two of the biggest bads in existence and lost your leg during it. How you coping with that anyway?" Sam asked and Marion shrugged.

"It's alright most of the time, sometimes though my leg doesn't want to cooperate which it was doing when you boys were getting the stuffing kicked out of you by the bald guy. But you've never come across anything about these bald guys?" Marion asked worriedly, and Sam, his face contorted in worry, shook his head.

"No. But at least we know more about them now. But Marion, whoever these dudes are, they mean serious business. And they're real sons of bitches to kill, which means they're getting a power boost from somewhere, and it looks like it could be angels and demons. Doesn't help us much though, we've still got no clue as to who they are or what they want, other than us dead." He said lamely, and Marion frowned.

"Well, other than wanting you dead, they have to have some other motive, otherwise, he wouldn't have been here and been killing so many people related to the Valente massacre. It just doesn't make any sense." Marion said irritably, sipping his drink, and Sam had to agree with that.

The problem was that they still didn't know anything about these weird scarred bald monks who kept attacking them. Their support network, much depleted over the years, now had very few people they could turn to for help in knowing lore. True, Garth did know his stuff, but he had already come up dry, and even though the bunker was a godsend, he needed to know more about who they were facing before he went looking for stuff on them in the bunker, otherwise, he'd just be wasting his time or getting distracted by the other books, or by Dean wanting to know where Sam had hidden the vintage porn they had found. Other experienced hunters were few and far between, Felix, who was by far the most knowledgeable of any they kept in contact with, didn't have a clue either, which meant that the boys really had no clue of who they could turn to with their current problem.

"Even if we knew a name, we might be able to get somewhere, but we don't even have that much." Sam complained, and Marion looked at him in interest.

"What about Castiel? Dean said he was back didn't he?" he asked, and Sam looked a little uncomfortable at the mention of the angel.

"Cas is...he's weird. Something isn't right with him, and it's so obvious that even Dean is admitting that it's there. He just doesn't seem right. He suddenly did a complete one eighty last time we saw him and he killed the angel that Crowley had gotten his hands on because he was compromised. And frankly...look I know I'm going to sound like the biggest hypocrite in the world, in fact worse, I'll sound like Dean but...Cas is my friend, sure, and I care about him. But ever since he proclaimed himself God and nearly killed me, along with letting every piece of crap out of Purgatory that we had to deal with last year, I've been..."

"Hesitant, it's understandable Sam."

Sam sighed.

"Yeah but I feel like a jerk for feeling this way. I mean if there was one thing I could change about Dean, other than his eating habits, it would be him to stop throwing all my crap back at me. And that's basically what I'm doing to Cas and I don't like feeling this but, well Cas did a lot of damage to me, and to everyone else, good people died because of him, just like they did because of me, and..."

"And you're afraid that he'll make the same mistakes all over again, whereas you pair learned from yours." Marion said wisely and Sam nodded slightly.

"Yeah, I'm just worried that he'll screw up again and we'll get the fallout just like we did last time." Sam admitted, and Marion nodded musingly.

He didn't blame Sam. Whereas a lot of Sam and Dean's Apocalypse related mistakes had been due to manipulation, deals and destiny that they had little control over, Castiel, as far as he was aware, had done everything all under his own steam, and then, when it had all blown up on him, he hadn't even suffered the guilt for months, he had gotten to live a blissful life with a woman while Sam, Dean and their friends had to cope with the mess he had made, which included the loss of Bobby and the return of Lilith, Raphael and Gordon.

"I see your point Sam, and I for one don't blame you. You're human, and you're fed up of Cas causing more trouble than he's worth." He said shrewdly and Sam shrugged, then turned to face Marion with a grin.

"Hey, since you're a part time hunter now, how about showing me what you know?" he asked with a devious grin, and Marion chuckled and put on his reading glasses.

"Bring it on."

XX

Dean awoke with a massive smile on his face. Maybe it was because it had been so long since he'd had sex, maybe it was because she was amazing in bed and knew things he had never seen before, but that had been freaking awesome.

"Morning." He said to Ember's sleeping form, and after a second, she turned to face him with a smile.

"Good morning to you too. I must say, it is nice to wake up with another warm body in the bed." She purred seductively, and leaned forward to kiss him.

As they broke apart, Ember got to her feet, allowing Dean to see her naked body once again, and he started edging across the bed to try and pull her back down to him. However, he was quickly cooled down as she threw his clothes at him.

"I'll see you tonight yes?" she asked curtly, as she headed to the shower, and Dean looked at the closing door in bewilderment, this had never happened before.

Sure, he'd blown off a lot of girls, and a lot of the time they were still lying in bed too. But after last night, he'd kind of thought he would at least get to play ball with her this morning too. But him being blown off and given marching orders by a girl, that was a new one. What made it even more weird was the fact that she wanted him back tonight.

Dean looked at the door in confusion. Maybe he was out of practice. Or maybe it was just because he wasn't used to the girl calling the shots. Or maybe he didn't like being blown off.

Either way, it made Ember all the more enticing to him. So, shrugging, he got dressed, scribbled his number on a piece of paper on the desk, and left the hotel room.

As soon as the door closed, Ember stepped out of the bathroom, smirking as she laid down on the bed. Part of her scheme or not, she couldn't deny that last night had been fun. True, part of it was because she knew just what she was doing by messing with Dean, but there was also the fact that he was definitely good in bed.

But now, things had to be done. The moves were now being made, and now she would have to up her game to get her little playthings into their appropriate positions for tonight.

And it was then that Veltas appeared, looking grim.

"Is all in readiness?" she asked, and he hesitated over his answer, which made her raise her eyebrow expectantly.

"Yes it is but, the council has ordered that you are to suspend your activities and report immediately to the Arce Purgatus." He said nervously, and she hissed between her teeth.

"What the hell is Seraphim playing at? He knows what I'm trying to do here, I need to be available to act, and to keep up the pretence! What is his game?" she demanded angrily, and he looked at her, his face pale and grim.

"It's a three line summons." He said, and her eyes, previously narrowed in anger at her obstinate, stubborn and arrogant angel counterpart, widened in surprise.

A three line summons was the most grave summons imaginable. True, the entire council usually attended the meetings anyway, as they had very little reason to be out in the field nowadays when the Ancilla and their other lieutenants could easily deal with any matters that needed attention. But the option was always there for the council members to ignore the meeting if they didn't want to go. A three line summons meant that there was no choice.

In fact, there had only been five times since the creation of the Perpurigo that it had happened. The first time had been during the plagues of Egypt, when the Perpurigo had had all hands on deck to clear up the messes of the angels who went too far, or to stop the demons who took advantage of the situation. The second had been during the 1500s, not long after Henry VIII had broken off from the church, some enterprising demon had decided to use the chaos to cause absolute havoc and tried to set Samhain loose without observing the appropriate protocols. The third time was obviously the day that Lucifer had escaped the cage. The fourth was when Castiel had proclaimed himself god, and the final time, the most recent, was when the Winchesters had found themselves the Word of God.

Now that she came to think about it, what was meant to be a rare occurrence was happening a lot more frequently than it should.

"What on earth could have happened that could warrant a three line summons?" she asked in disbelief and Veltas gulped.

"The murder of one of our own, within the very walls of the castle." He reported, and within seconds she was dressed and following him home.

XX

"Hey." Sam said as his brother strolled in the door, looking vaguely put out.

"Who's died now?" Marion asked, and Dean frowned.

"I'm beginning to think my libido. She kicked me out." He complained, hating the smug smirk that came onto Sam's face as he reported his problem.

"Wait, you, the tamer of a thousand women, was kicked out by a woman and now you're in a strop because you were beaten at your own game? Isn't that a bit, you know, hypocritical, even for you?" Sam asked, trying determinedly to keep a straight face, and Dean glared at his brother, trying his hardest to ignore Marion who was snickering at the stove.

"Oh shut up, I'm not used to being dumped after we've had sex." He complained, sitting down in a huff, and Marion smiled cautiously.

"Perhaps you're getting too old to keep having sex. To me, you have three choices. One, you browse the personals and take up speed dating." He said, making Dean grin while Sam laughed.

"What are my other options?" Dean asked grumpily, though a small part of him did want to know what Marion reckoned his other choices were.

"Two, you resign yourself to a long, miserable life making your brother's life even more miserable." He said, and Dean grinned while Sam groaned.

"Hey, I could get on board with that." He quirked, making Sam glare.

"And third, you look at the local pet rehoming centres." Marion advised and Dean looked at him in confusion.

"What good does that do?" he asked, and Marion smirked.

"Well if you're going to be alone for the rest of your life, you may as well go the whole hog and get yourself a bunch of cats for company." He said cockily, and Sam burst out laughing while Dean tried (albeit fairly unsuccessfully) to repress the urge to throw something at Marion.

"So, your stagnant sex life aside, I take it you didn't find anything last night?" Sam asked, and Dean shook his head.

"No, nothing. There's no sign of where the hell these guys could have come from or what they want in town. Did you get the other guys locked up?" Dean asked, and Marion nodded.

"Yes they're all locked up inside the station, but the problem is I can only keep them for forty eight hours if there's no sign of any threats against their lives, which if we were dealing with normal bad guys I wouldn't mind, but as they're supernatural ritualistic bald guys, I'm slightly nervous about claiming that the threat is over if the next thing that happens is they get killed by the same threat that we're meant to have dealt with." He said worriedly, and Sam scowled.

"I phoned around all the hunters we know this morning, even Missouri." Sam said, and Dean grinned.

"Awesome, did you get the tongue lashing we've got coming our way?" he said with a bright grin, which quickly faltered when Sam retaliated with a grin that was even brighter.

"No, I said it was your idea not to call her until now, because you're scared of her and didn't want to talk to her. So if it's any consolation, I'm now in the clear and she's away to find a new spoon primarily for hitting you about the head with." He said cheerfully.

Dean sat there for a second, completely flabbergasted by Sam's dirty, low move. True he'd done a bit to earn it recently, but that had been a while ago, this was just Sam being an evil little brother. And now Dean had the threat of an enraged Missouri hanging over the horizon, spoons in hand.

"That was low even for you. I don't like you anymore. Et tu Brute." Dean said with a pitiful pout making Marion chuckle.

"Right, but they didn't come up with anything." Marion concluded, and Sam nodded, going back into the explanation.

"Yeah. But, Missouri turned out to be the most useful one of the lot. There's rumours going around the channels she listens to, something big is on the rise. Well biggish. There's still civil war in heaven for a start." Sam informed him and Dean nodded in satisfaction, the longer the angels fought each other, the less chance they had of making humanity's life miserable and even better. And the closer the dickheads got to extinction the happier everyone would be.

Strange, that he preferred dealing with demons than angels, but given a choice he would take Crowley over Michael any day. Angels really were just dicks.

"Good, serves the dicks right. Anything else?" he asked, and Sam grinned.

"Yeah, she's been listening in to demon talk. Know how last year Crowley launched his reverse coup to take the throne back from Lilith while she was determined to mount us on her wall? Well it turns out he lost a lot of oomph doing it. He got the throne back, but because he needed help from demons who were also contending for the throne, he formed a lot of factions. There isn't a civil war down there, but there is a kind of cold war going on. And our favourite ruler of hell's job is made all the worse by the fact that we're still breathing, and because rumours got to the few remaining Lucifer loyalists that there was a powerful Lucifer loyalist back in the house, it's made Crowley's grip a little...tenuous." Sam said with cold delight, and Dean grinned.

Just because he preferred demons to angels didn't mean he didn't mind when Crowley got his comeuppance.

"Who's the loyalist?" Dean asked and Sam rolled his eyes.

"Hello, Abaddon, pissed off demon bitch of hell, Knight of Hell who roundly kicked our asses while chasing down our grandfather?" he explained and Dean's eyes widened in realisation.

"Grandfather?" Marion asked in shock, and Dean waved him off.

"It's a long story. But did she hear about anything big relating to these big bad guys?" he asked, and Sam shook his head.

"Nothing so much but there are whispers. Whatever these guys are, they leave a trail she can follow with her powers. And whatever these guys are, or what they're involved in, something big is related to them, she says there's all sorts of agendas swirling around them, she's looking into it for us." He explained, and Dean nodded.

"Good. Alright, I'm going to get cleaned up." He said, getting to his feet.

"There's a good cattery in Sioux Falls." Marion said brightly, and Dean gave him a lethal grin.

"I'm going to beat you to death with your own false leg." He warned making the other two chuckle.

"So, we still don't know who these guys are but we do know that there are things going on with them. Alright, I don't want to keep those two in protective custody any longer than necessary, so we need to find out if we've gotten rid of these weirdos or not. Once your brother's out, we'll head to the station, see if anything's flagged up and if not, we'll rely on good old fashioned detective work. Because something is wrong in my town, and I'm determined to put it right." Marion said stubbornly, to Sam's agreeing nod.

XX

"Wait, why are you doing this? Why have you brought these abominations into heaven?" Alexander demanded in a panic as he and his brethren tried to escape the palace corner that Kerubiel and his supporters had forced them into.

"Why? I would have thought that was obvious, I am cleaning house. That is my role in existence after all. You and your kind supported Michael, took no action to stop him while he and his kin planned the Apocalypse. And now, you rally around your leader, Zophiel, who's failure to find Gabriel basically brought heaven to the mess that it is in now." Kerubiel said in his deep voice as he and his powerless allies tried to flee but they were trapped against the sheer, steep walls of the palace, simply victims waiting to be executed.

"Stop Kerubiel!" a voice boomed and Kerubiel grinned as he and his troops turned to face the new arrivals.

"Greetings Zophiel. I see you've been admiring my handiwork." Kerubiel gloated, and Zophiel, dressed in a simple white robe, with a balding head and a big moustache, glared.

"You have slaughtered your way through my palace! I have long since stopped my support of Michael! The Perpurigo has no reason to come after me, yet you've already slaughtered three dozen of my men with your...your army? Where are the rest of your men?" Zophiel demanded weakly as he looked around, and Kerubiel smiled grimly.

"Here, these fine gentlemen are all I need, isn't that so Quasi?" he asked, and his right hand man edged forward.

Unlike his namesake, Quasi was not at all deformed, in fact he had only been called that by his master, who appreciated a sense of irony. On the outside at least, Quasi looked far from deformed. Tall and well built, he had a bald head marked with the tattoo of a chimera, but that was his only distinguishing feature. He and his companions wore black robes and wore waistcoats akin to that which Ember wore to protect her torso.

Zophiel peered curiously at the men Kerubiel had brought with him, trying to hide a smirk as Alexander and Rodrigo, his two remaining lieutenants, led the decimated remnants of their ranks into a circle to try and encircle the angel and his companions. He then glared at Kerubiel, who seemed unfazed, though he had to know he was being surrounded.

"Kerubiel, I know of the Perpurigo's mission, your mission is to prevent and clear up the excesses of heaven, hell and all in between, by whatever means necessary. But I have done nothing wrong, I was simply following orders, just like all of us were, you know that!" he protested, but Kerubiel raised a hand, his eyes narrowed in callous contempt.

"Enough. Your failure to find Gabriel significantly weakened heaven. And none of you were blameless during the Apocalypse. Michael moved against us because he knew full well we would try and stop him. You were part of his inner circle, you failed to find Gabriel in time, and you also supported the Apocalypse. An Apocalyse which Michael basically sealed us in for because he knew we wouldn't tolerate his temper tantrum. He was bored, his father was gone, and he didn't want to watch his brother or his charges anymore, so he had a temper tantrum nearly as bad s his brother's. Ever since we burst through the seal he put around our realm, we have been trying to put everything right. The Apocalypse was an excess of heaven and hell and we were prevented from clearing it up, and ever since then we have been trying to bring the mess back under control. And from that little bit of acting out, we got Eve, we got the Leviathans, and we got Raphael's Apocalypse as well, so forgive me if we are rather harsh, but none up here are blameless, and most of you, such as your good self, are simply causing even more chaos by refusing to take action to fix the mess that you have all created by blindly following orders!" Kerubiel thundered.

Zophiel snarled, drawing his sword, to which Kerubiel rolled his eyes impatiently.

"Then why have you not dealt with that witch Naomi? She is the Director of Celestial Intelligence, she reported directly to Michael!" he yelled and Kerubiel scowled.

"Yes she did, but she also had the sense to focus on fixing heaven rather than helping Raphael create his Apocalypse. She tried to fix things, and all she did was facilitate their actions, whereas you and many of your supporters actually carried out Michael's wishes, and made matters ten times worse as a result. So, as you know, as it is the Perpurigo's duty to eradicate the excesses of heaven, a task we have admittedly failed at of late, mostly due to the interference of the archangels and because we've been trying to catch up by working overtime endlessly the last five years, it is now my very great pleasure to sentence you to death."

Kerubiel moved in an instant, his blade wasting no time in cutting down the two angels who were flanking Zophiel, before performing an elegant spin and stabbing upwards, punching right through Zophiel's chest and making the defeated angel fall to the floor.

"How are you doing this?" Rodrigo wailed as he gestured helplessly at Quasi, who then extended a blade from his wrist and slit his throat.

Kerubiel looked around in satisfaction. The vast majority of Zophiel's faction had been slaughtered on their way through the palace, and those that remained would eventually find the other few remaining holdouts of Apocalypse wishers and Michael come Raphael supporters. However, for now, the last of the angels who were involved in Raphael's Apocalypse were dealt with, and they were a step closer to cleaning up that particular mess.

There was a rustle of wings behind him and Kerubiel turned to see Naomi, who gave the area of brief inspection before facing him.

"I suppose I should thank you for dealing with Zophiel. I didn't wish it to end in violence, but he really gave me no choice, I would have had to crush him eventually, he was destroying the very precarious peace just by his presence." She said with a scowl, and Kerubiel nodded.

"I don't doubt he was. However, with him now gone, you can easily move in and usurp control of some of that which belonged to him, which will give you the largest faction in heaven." Kerubiel said, and she smiled.

"Indeed it will. Though some are still opposed to recognising my right to rule, they don't believe the director of intelligence should be calling the shots, even though I'm the highest ranking member of the establishment left. Thank you for your help Kerubiel. Though I can't say I'm pleased with the presence of Eve's abominations within heaven's halls." She said in distaste, and Kerubiel smiled.

"Yes, fabulous things even if they are the brainchild of a damaged mind. I don't like the name, Jefferson Starships, but it's too late now, they won't answer to anything else." He lamented and Naomi allowed herself a small smile as Quasi came up, looking curious.

"Your orders my lord?" he asked, and Kerubiel beckoned.

"Hunt down anyone remaining within the walls, and free any prisoners, they can be transferred to Naomi's care." He said, and the abominations headed off.

Naomi was just about to speak again when Ophanim appeared, her face grave.

"Kerubiel, you must return to the castle. A three line summons has been issued." She said tersely, and he looked at her in shock.

"A three line summons? Nothing else could have happened can it? Or has our unseen foe made it's move?" he asked, and she shrugged.

"We don't know, but we cannot discount the possibility. Quickly please." She commanded before vanishing.

Naomi looked at him worriedly, as the other angel's face turned into a mask of fear and suspicion.

"Go Kerubiel, I will send your men on." She promised, and he nodded, clasping her hand briefly.

"You are a credit to heaven Naomi. Do not allow yourself to be distracted. Continue as you are, and you will have the full support of the Perpurigo in keeping your throne, this I promise you." He vowed, before vanishing to the castle.

XX

Lexii was like a cyclone as she cut through the forces in hell that had supported the change in leadership down there. An ambitious demon by the name of Ziminiar was the leader of one of the factions that Crowley had had to recruit in order to help him win his throne back from Lilith. However, due to their help during the coup against the former queen of hell, after he had succeeded, Crowley had been rather stuck with them ever since, with the various factions all pushing and pulling at one another and Crowley for more power. Ziminiar had crossed that line, and had begun recruiting former supporters of Lilith and Azazel, in other words, they were traditionalists who liked the Apocalypse, having an all powerful leader, all that jazz, all in an attempt to make Crowley give in to his demands. Now he threatened to cause even more damage to hell, which meant he would further send the situation spiralling out of control, and quite frankly the Perpurigo was fed up of cleaning up the mess left by the Apocalypse. What was more, by taking in all of Azazel and Lilith's supporters, he had made himself a target anyway.

The daevas swarmed all around her as she hacked her way through the next crowd of demons, all urgently trying to stop her. True, she could have remained invisible for all of this, but she preferred to get down and dirty with her opponents. Grinning sadistically, she used her scythe like metal claws, which she had mounted on her hand to give her some resemblance to Wolverine, to rip apart another demon who was trying valiantly to stop her, but it did little to slow her down as she simply slashed through his head with her left claws.

The daevas gave their strange shrieking cry as they swarmed through the levels of the pit that Ziminiar had made his own, all of them searching for the leading demon himself. This was what they were used to, clearing up messes that ought to have been cleared up ages ago.

With a vicious slash, she ripped open another supporter of Ziminiar, as she and her pets advanced down into the deeper recesses of the cave network. Why should Ember get to have all the fun, just because she was the lead demon? Lexii loved killing as much as the next person, and things were going too well for her to stop now. They had nearly completed their mission, everything was returning to normal, all she had to do now was end this nonsense and then that would finish this threat once and for all.

"Who are you?" Ziminiar demanded as she reached the room he was cowering in.

"Judgement." Lexii sneered, before ripping him into thirds.

As the parts of his body fell to the floor, she became aware of applause from behind her, and readying her blades, she turned to see a curious and impressed Crowley standing behind her.

"Lexii...been a while. Last time I saw you you were happily slashing your way through plague victims. Germany wasn't it?" Crowley asked, and the reaper fixed him with a smile.

"It has been a while Crowley. And I see you've come up in the world. Or down in the world. I don't know I suppose it's all relative. Anyway, as you can see, a thorn in your side has been dealt with." She said, and he smiled.

"So I see, thanks for that by the way. Where is that she bitch friend of yours, she usually comes down here when the Perpurigo need things doing." He said in distaste, and Lexii clucked her tongue in disappointment.

"Are you trying to get rid of me already Crowley?" she asked, affecting a pout and he smiled and kissed her hand.

"Far from it, I would just rather deal with you than her my dear." He soothed and she smiled.

"Her absence might be in your best interests actually my dear. After all, we are finally getting ahead of all the problems the Apocalypse etc have caused us, which means we can now focus on the ones who brought the entire thing about in the first place, those irritating abominations which continually cause more mess than they clean up, not to mention that they pervert the natural order of things. Those little thorns in your side will soon be pruned I can assure you." She said, but Crowley looked at her warily.

"While I'm all for dealing with the Winchesters Lexii, you ought to be careful. Droopy and Dribble may be abominations, pains in my arse, etc, but that doesn't mean they're pushovers. Beings on all sides, even yours, have underestimated those walking nightmares since day one, how do you think I got here? They kill anyone they come in contact with, and now, they're trying their hardest to trap me in hell for keeps. If they need to, they'll lock the Perpurigo up as well." He warned darkly and she raised an eyebrow, thoroughly unimpressed.

"If I didn't know better Crowley, I would say you have an unhealthy respect for the prowess of the Winchesters. Not crushing on either of them are we?" she asked, and he glowered.

"No, I just don't want any of us locked away while they make the planet a demon free zone."

Lexii was about to say more when Zain appeared beside her, looking grim.

"Hello darling, Crowley and I are just having a little difference of opinion on the Winchesters." She said, fully intending to get everything she could out of Crowley, after all, if she could humiliate the king of hell, charming though he may be, while she was down here, Ember would be much easier to live with, it would keep her out the road.

"Well I'm afraid it will have to wait mother." He said nervously, glancing around edgily, and it was enough to get both Lexii and Crowley's attention.

"Dearest, what is it?" she asked, and he looked at her urgently, fidgeting restlessly.

"I'm not even supposed to be here. There's been a three line summons." He explained, and she looked at him suspiciously.

"I wasn't informed of any three line summons, why wasn't I informed? And don't tell me it's because I'm in this tip." She sneered, and Crowley looked at her, most affronted.

"Hey! I'll admit I'm no Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, but it still looks better than it ever has thank you very much." He said tartly, only to be ignored by the two reapers.

"It's because they're coming to take you in for questioning, they think..." he started to explain, only to be cut off by his furious mother.

"They think what, what's happened, and why the hell are they accusing me?" she demanded angrily just as there was a rustle of wings, making Crowley turn in alarmed disgust.

"An angel can't just stroll into hell whenever he pleases, who the hell do you think you are?" he demanded of Seraphim, who had arrived with Delphus and two squads of Ancilla in tow.

"Silence worm, because time is short, a host of curious supporters are headed this way, and imagine the scandal if the king of hell was discovered with an angel down here considering how well it worked for you last time." He said in a falsely sweet voice, and Crowley glared angrily.

"How the hell did you get into hell? And they better not be the angelic ranks of the Ancilla." He warned and Seraphim smiled coyly.

"What else would they be? And you know full well that my faction can go anywhere. Now, silence cretin. And Zain," he said warningly, making the younger reaper gulp, "I will deal with your disobedience later."

He then turned to face a livid Lexii, who had raised her blades and looked ready to hack the arrogant angel apart, while Crowley and Zain glared mutinously behind the angel who led the Perpurigo.

"What the hell is the meaning of this Seraphim? I am a member of the council, and there is a three line summons, and you bring your personal guard here to arrest me, risking our alliance with Crowley and our background role in the process? This had better be damned good, because if not, my daevas are going to have a new chew toy!" she hissed, though her anger subsided slightly as she saw her son wince.

Seraphim gave her a cold smile.

"Funny you should say that, that's why we're here. You see, it seems like the daevas found a new chew toy. Veronica was found by Niandra this morning, ripped to shreds, and according to Macey who did her post mortem bit, it was the daevas that did it. Hence my presence here. You are thought of as a person of interest, and we knew you would not respond to a summons, not with your son to protect you. So, instead, we decided to pre-empt you. Make no mistake, we don't think you are guilty, think of this as witness protection." He said with a charming but utterly devoid smile, as the Ancilla arrested her, making her glare at him in outrage.

"I can offer you sanctuary." Crowley said, and Seraphim turned to glare.

"And if you do you tiresome little beggar, then I will obliterate you. She is not under arrest." He assured him in a smooth voice, but it didn't work on Lexii or Zain, both of whom were wise to his tricks.

"You've already made up your mind you smug, sanctimonious son of a bitch." Zain snarled, and Seraphim glared.

"Do not take that tone with me boy. She will go before the council, and we will decide her fate." He said smugly, and Lexii glowered.

"You will pay for this Seraphim. You have no right to arrest me, I had nothing to do with Veronica's death, and you don't have the authority to do this you smug bastard. I will make you pay for this." She bit out bitterly, and he smiled callously.

"I'm quaking in fear. Come." He said, and vanished, the Ancilla and the two reapers also disappearing, leaving Crowley scowling behind them.

It was time he started carrying the Reficul chain around with him.

XX

"We can't keep them here for much longer sheriff, but it does look like you were right, they did seem to be the targets." One of the eager new officers that had only joined the year before after Valente's massacre said mildly as Marion and the boys worked in the police station.

Dean sent an appreciative glance in her direction, one which Sam noticed, making him roll his eyes. He supposed Dean's fairly fragile ego had suffered a blow when this new girl had blown him off, he had to cut him some slack. Not much though.

"So it would seem Candi, but it doesn't really help us. You boys found anything?" he asked, and Dean shook his head.

"Nope, we've been looking through all the CCTV footage we could find of the areas where a murder took place, nothing to help us there. We've also looked for anything suspicious on speed cameras and stuff, nothing." Dean reported grimly.

A young man, named Neil, looked at Marion curiously.

"You really think there's more than one of them chief?" he asked, and Marion nodded.

"Yes I do lad, because despite how dangerous he was, he went down far too easily, and when you get to my age, you don't believe in anything except what you can't see. Alright people I need suggestions, they don't even need to be sensible, all they need to be in suggestions, if there are more of them in town, where might they be hiding?" he asked, and another young officer called Eric frowned musingly.

"Well we cleaned our way through the hotels and motels, we also looked at the abandoned factories etc, even the trash yard so all that's out. The sewers?" he asked, and Marion looked to Sam, who shrugged.

"It's a possibility I suppose, but not one I'm inclined to go with. The guy we fought was fairly clean when he killed him, if he'd come through the sewers then he'd be dirtier but I suppose it's worth a try." He said, and the other girl of the group, Nina, frowned thoughtfully.

"Scary thought but what if he was from outside town and just drove here?" she asked, and Billy, the final member of the group, looked at her sceptically.

"Really? When he doesn't even have eyes, how would that work?" he asked and Dean leaned close to Sam.

"He'd be surprised." He muttered, making Sam grin.

"Let's not discount anything, this lot have proven that they're very dangerous, anything could fly here. Have we got any other ideas?" he asked the room at large.

Candi then looked curiously at the sheriff.

"Here's a thought, what if someone in town is acting as the leader, calling the shots, and these guys are just the hitmen?" she asked, and Sam sat up a little straighter, that wasn't a bad theory.

"That could be an idea. These guys are blind, which means someone with eyes has to be helping them get to where they're going, so why not order them who to kill at the same time?"

Marion nodded musingly.

"Yes, that is a thought isn't it? Would make sense too. Alright, here's what we're going to do. Candi, you and Billy head down into the sewers, I don't think it'll turn up anything but you never can tell. Eric, Neil, you stay here, while the boys and I check out the hotels to see if anyone new has come into town." Marion ordered, and beckoned to the two boys, looking grim.

"What are the chances someone is calling the shots?" he asked, and Sam shrugged.

"Seems fairly obvious to me, these guys are eyeless, which means at the very least they need someone to help them move around up here, these guys seem to like being sneaky." He said, and Dean groaned.

"Which means there's a good chance it's that angel you and Felix saw, I doubt it's that leader of theirs, he seems important, but not enough to call the shots, and neither was the zombie master." He growled, and Sam nodded.

"Right. So, we take the motel and you take the hotel?" he asked, and Marion nodded.

"Seems fair to me. See you back here in a few." Marion said, heading to his car, and Dean sighed in irritation.

"You know, maybe we should try and summon Cas here. He might be able to help." He reasoned, knowing Sam wouldn't be particularly fond of the idea.

Sam frowned irritably. He didn't want Cas here, but he also knew it was getting to the stage that they needed help. And despite him acting weird, he was still their friend, he was still Sam's friend, it was just...he didn't want Cas to bite them in the ass again as he had so many times before, something that he seemed to be doing more and more recently.

"Sammy..." Dean tried and Sam nodded.

"I'm beginning to think you're right. But Dean, do we really want him here? Look what he did to Samandiriel. He's not right Dean, and I know I've got no right to say this, but he isn't our Cas, and I'm not sure we can trust him. He's barely keeping off the edge as it is, and bringing him here, when we don't even know what we're dealing with might blow up in our faces. I know you don't want to hear this Dean, and I don't want to be saying but Cas...he isn't right. He's just off, and it's worrying me." He said worriedly, and Dean nodded.

"I know Sammy. And for what it's worth, I agree, he hasn't been the same since he got back from Purgatory and I don't think it was anything to do with our vacation there. Alright, we'll hang off on calling Cas. Besides, we don't even know if he'd listen if we called him anyway. Come on, let's see if there's anyone new in town." He said, and then Sam grinned.

"I've got it!" he said in excitement, and Dean turned to face him anxiously.

"What, who?" he asked and Sam turned an astonished look onto his brother.

"It's you!" he proclaimed, grinning at the look of irritation on his brother's face.

"Sammy...if it was me ordering these guys around, don't you think I'd have ordered them to whack you? Come on smart ass, let's see if there's anyone else who's moved into town recently." He said, ignoring Sam's grin, and here he thought they had done trying to wind each other up.

He climbed into the Impala, rolling his eyes impatiently as he waited for Sam to get in, and he turned on the radio, to find 'Beauty and the Beast' from the Disney movie blaring out of the speakers.

Calling his brother every colourful word he could think of as a cackling Sam got into the car, he decided he was just going to have to get even, again.

XX

"You are called before us to answer for the death of Veronica, within the very halls of our castle." Seraphim stated coldly, to the leader of the reaper faction who was still bound in chains.

"This is ridiculous Seraphim, why would Lexii want Veronica dead? In fact if we were to look anywhere as to a possible murderer within our ranks, wouldn't it be you? After all, you are a rather arrogant and stubborn old prude, and you believe the rantings of the church. Just because she was Niandra's lover, wouldn't that put her on your list?" Ember said scathingly from her chair, and the others had to admit, it was a good point, and a good shot.

Seraphim glared at the leader of the demon faction.

"Even though you are right Ember, I am not in the habit of wasting things that may later be useful, and as we are being threatened from all directions, it would be unwise for me to kill the little slut." He sneered, and the council stirred.

Ophanim shook her head in dismay. While the death of someone within their own walls was terrible enough, the death of Veronica was also highlighting the ever increasing divide between the angels, demons and reapers that made up the council. While she loved Seraphim dearly, she knew he could be an arrogant and dismissive pain in the backside, even for an angel, and that usually turned Ember, Lexii and their factions against them. And now, with one of the council arrested (precipitously, Seraphim had overstepped his bounds by moving against Lexii before they had proof), and another in a distraught emotional state in her chambers, it meant that this meeting would be even more tense than usual, especially with the subject matter, and as always, she was going to have to try and keep the peace.

"I had nothing to do with Veronica's death! I hardly even knew the girl, why on earth would I want her dead?" she asked, and Veltas looked at her grimly.

"We don't believe you wanted her dead Lexii," he began, throwing a nasty look at Seraphim who was unaffected, "but the fact is that she is dead, and by the hands of the daevas, which you command." He finished nervously, and she turned to him angrily.

"So because my daevas killed her, it is me to blame?" she snapped, and Zain held up a hand to calm his mother.

"Mother, no. Here." He said, beckoning and the chains she was in fell to the floor with a clatter, making Seraphim get to his feet in a rage.

"Zain!" he thundered, but Ophanim struck her gavel on the side of her chair, making a roll of thunder echo around the room, and Seraphim resumed his seat while glaring at Zain angrily, who sent him an irritating, smug smirk back, earning an appreciative smile from his mother.

"Now, let us discuss this like civilised beings. Veronica was killed within the castle, her blood spilled where she was meant to be most safe. As Macey has discovered, she was killed by the daevas, which are controlled by Lexii. Lexii, can you account for this?" Delphus asked mildly, getting the meeting back on track.

Lexii shook her head.

"No I can't. I thought I had all the daevas completely under my control. I had no reason to order her death, and I most certainly didn't. My only thought is that one of the daevas must have somehow slipped out of my control." She said meekly, and Seraphim scoffed derisively.

"A likely tale. Why would the daevas kill her? Even if they had slipped your control, which I doubt, they still had no reason to be in her tower where she was killed." He challenged and Lexii shot him a disgusted look.

"My daevas are little more than mindless monsters, it is my power and will that keep them under control. If my will is reduced, for example when I'm asleep, it could theoretically allow the daevas to temporarily slip out of my control. If they did that and came across Veronica while they were wandering the halls, then there's every chance that they saw her and thought nothing of attacking her." She explained, and Seraphim was about to open his mouth again when he was quelled by a look from Ophanim.

"As I told you after you so foolishly arrested Lexii, we have no evidence that she was actually murdered. All we know is that she was killed by daevas, which could easily have been a tragic accident." She said, before the door opened to reveal a devastated Niandra, her hands shaking as she supported herself against the frame.

Her entire body was shaking, she was clad in black robes similar to the Ancilla's though made of a lighter material, and her face was a tear stricken mess.

"This was no accident." She breathed out in a raspy voice, as Lexii turned to her and led her gently to her seat, all of them noticing as Niandra clutched on to her as though her life depended on it.

"What do you mean my dear?" Kerubiel asked softly, and Niandra looked weakly out at them all.

"There was a hand, a mind, behind this. It was our unseen foe who ordered the death of my Veronica. We are infiltrated, I fear our enemy is within the walls, they plot our demise, set themselves against us and our mission. Whoever ordered the daevas, they knew exactly what would happen, they wanted her dead." She spat in a furious, grief laden voice.

"That is a very serious accusation Niandra." Seraphim chided, and Lexii turned to glower at him.

"No more so that you accusing me of murdering the girl. Did you see anything more Niandra?" she asked from her perch, as she was kneeling in front of Niandra, and the seer shook her head.

"No, I wasn't even trying to see, I was trying to meditate, but I fell into a doze, and I saw a black clad hand pushing the daevas towards her, I, I..." she began, and screamed in despair, and Lexii sighed, gesturing to Ophanim who touched Niandra's forehead and sent the girl to sleep.

"May your dreams be free of pain child." Ophanim said kindly, as she waved a hand and sent Niandra back to her room.

"So...our unseen enemy is responsible for the death of Veronica." Akpach said with a sigh, as the council glared at Seraphim, who refused to meet any of them in the eye.

"And now they have struck, we must take steps, increase our patrols, increase our security. The enemy is upon us." Macey said grimly, and Delphus nodded.

"Indeed it is. And the actions of the daevas, tragic as they are, I'm afraid they narrow out the possibility of the Winchesters being involved. Which means, this is far from over. Our unseen enemy has drawn first blood, and now we must act against them." He said grimly, to the nods of the rest of the council.

"Agreed general. And we must also make the proper arrangements for Veronica's funeral, we have never lost one of the inner circle within our own walls before. I shall watch over Niandra, keep an eye on her, and when she wakes, we will attend to Veronica and prepare her for last rights." Ophanim said compassionately, and vanished to watch over the seer.

Seraphim met Lexii's glare and bowed his head slightly, his expression rebellious.

"I was wrong to arrest you Lexii, I am...sorry." he said, quietly seething, and she smirked.

"You had better be. And don't think I will forget this, Seraphim. I never forget." She warned darkly, and he bowed his head resentfully and vanished.

"I must return to heaven to finish off the mission." Kerubiel said, vanishing himself.

"And we have our own mission to carry out. Come Veltas, we are now behind schedule." Ember said irritably, leading her deputy away.

"And I will return to hell." Lexii said with a sneer, and both she and her son vanished from the room, allowing the rest of the meeting to break up.

XX

Niandra was dead. The first blow had been struck. The Perpurigo's fall began here. Now, the once great institution would be remade. And Niandra, however unwittingly, had played her part beautifully. By telling them that the enemy was within the walls, the tensions and mistrust would mount, doing their job for them. The Perpurigo would soon become so mired in corruption, mistrust and fear that it would cease to function the way it ought to.

And then, for their actions, for their betrayal of themselves and their original goal, it would then be child's play to pick them off.

XX

It looked like alienating Niandra hadn't worked. But someone else, another threat perhaps, had done the job for him. Veronica was dead. Niandra, however, was removed as a threat, at least for a while until she recovered from the loss of her beloved. And with the loss of one of their best seers, and their main one out of action, it meant they could continue with impunity. And by the time Niandra foresaw what was truly going on here, it would be far too late.

XX

Interesting. Veronica was dead, killed by one of the powers that was moving pieces around the board, one of the ones that was trying to destroy the Perpurigo. And now, the once great group would start going to hell in a handbasket as they all looked to and blamed each other, and the group would fall upon its own sword.

And they would be waiting in the wings to pick up the pieces.

XX

Predictably, they had had no luck in the sewers, however, the guest lists from the motel and hotel had been acquired, and now everyone present in the station was about to start going over them with a fine tooth comb.

Sam, however, was glaring at a smirking Dean. After his little Disney stunt, Dean had been looking for revenge and when they had gotten to the motel, when Sam hadn't been looking, Dean had pinched a knife and a small jar of vegemite and had proceeded to put some on the knife and make it look like Sam had had an accident, much to his brother's great displeasure. He had then drawn the manager's attention to Sam's so called accident, and the old woman who owned the place had then begun to fuss over Sam, telling him her life story and how it used to happen to her dead husband, with Sam directing an 'I'm going to kill you' glare at his brother.

Confident the world was right again, Dean set down the tray of doughnuts as the entire police team, complete with Marion and the boys, sat down and got to work. However, just before they started, the power clicked off, plunging the entire station into darkness.

"Forget to pay the bill again sheriff?" Billy asked cheerfully and Marion scowled.

"You forget once you never live it down, and besides, it wasn't my fault, the council is meant to take care of things like that." He protested, getting to his feet, stubbing his toe and swearing loudly.

"Dean, stop trying to hold my hand because you're scared!" Sam said in the darkness and Dean sent an outraged look in Sam's general direction.

"Dean, that isn't my hand you're holding." Candi said, sounding uncomfortable, and Dean went scarlet.

"That isn't me!" he protested.

"This is ridiculous, where's the torch? Ow! Stupid desk." Neil complained, and Sam's amusement had turned to worry.

It was much too dark in here.

"Marion?" he asked, getting to his feet to where he could barely make out the sheriff in the window.

"There's people moving out there." He said grimly, stopping the squabble at the table as they all went quiet.

"Trying to fix the power?" Eric asked hopefully, and Nina squinted through the darkness.

"So soon? I doubt it." She said worriedly, and they all jumped about a foot in the air as there was suddenly clanging coming from the cells.

"Hey, what happened to the lights? If you insist on keeping us here you could at least give us some light to read by." One of the occupants of the cells complained and Marion harrumped.

"Candi, go and let them out, bring them in here where we can theoretically keep an eye on them." He said, his voice tense, as he and Sam looked out of the window.

"What you thinking?" Dean asked as he joined them, grinning a little as Sam moved a little closer on instinct, bad things tended to happen to them in the dark.

Not that he would tell anyone else that, he would tell them Sam was the one who was really scared of the dark.

"It's the back of ten, most of the neighbours to the building are usually still up at this time. Yet I don't see any signs of light anywhere along the street. All the street lights have gone out too." He said, and Dean shrugged.

"What's so odd about that?" he asked and Marion turned his head in his direction.

"I mean, there's no torch light, no phone light, no candle light, nothing coming from any of the other buildings, it's the same out the other side too. There isn't much light anywhere, but there is one thing I can see. Cars have been parked across the road at the end of the street, and if I were a betting man, I'd say that they've blocked off all the other roads around the station, because blocking up roads, kind of not the done thing in a power cut." He said grimly, clocking his gun, and Dean frowned, turning to Sam, who also readied his own gun.

"And there's a lot of people out there too. They look like..."

"They're surrounding the place. Which they are. Boss, the road;s blocked in Dogwood Street too, and the parking lot is blocked up. There's a line of people surrounding the building too, they're all just standing there, looking in." Neil said worriedly, as the other cops readied their weapons.

"What's going on?" one of the protective custody prisoners asked nervously, as Sam and Dean peered out of every window, to see dark figures standing right outside, surrounding the building, with cars as road blocks surrounding the place as well.

"Dean, am I the only one getting a horrible sense of déjà vu?" Sam asked worriedly, and Dean shook his head.

"Monument, Colorado? No, you're not." He said nervously.

"What happened there?" Marion asked, these people were all just standing, staring into his station, there was no light, nothing, just these dark figures, all of which appeared to be wearing hoods, all standing around outside the station, all of their gazes focused on the building.

"We were attacked by a horde of demons. We barely escaped alive. And then Lilith showed up and wiped out everyone who was left." Dean explained in an undertone, just as the lights on several of the cars switched on.

"Finally someone uses their brain out there, who are these...oh my god!" Nina exclaimed, but Sam and Dean didn't need her to explain what had frightened her.

Because standing in the beams of several cars, were tall, hooded and cloaked men, all of them bulging with muscle, most of them wielding a quarterstaff. Others were holding a double bladed sword and others were holding maces. And all of them had scarred eyes.

The assassins had done this, cut them off, trapped them here, and now, they had them surrounded. And there were a hell of a lot.

"Dean, look." Sam ordered, and the entire group peered nervously out of the front door, to see a man, tall, thin and bald, dressed in a back suit with a red tie, strolling forward.

Veltas looked right into the station, dimly seeing the faces of the Winchesters looking out the window and gave a predatory smirk.

"Time for the gloves to come off." He said, his eyes flashing to their blazing black in the light from the cars.

"Demon!" Marion hissed in shock, earning him surprised looks from his people.

"Wait..." Dean said suspiciously, as the demon stood there grinning at them maliciously.

And then the blazing in his eyes seemed to get brighter, giving way to a blue flame within his dark eyes.

And, after many years of hiding what he truly was, Veltas finally revealed his true nature, the one he and Ember had kept hidden all these years.

And his eyes, rather than assuming the usual soulless black colour they did on normal demons, turned into a bright, frozen, icy, electric blue as Veltas looked into the station, savouring the looks of surprise on the faces of the Winchesters as they saw their first blue eyed demon.

**Firstly, apologies for the lateness of this update, I dont even know why it took so long so I dont have an excuse.**

**And now we get closer to the end of this story, as the Ancilla is about to begin its deadly endgame to kill Sam and Dean. And leading the attack is veltas, the first blue eyed demon, who belongs to a specific set of demons in hell, and is going to show just what he's made of next chapter.**

**And within the Perpurigo, things are getting worse, tensions are rising, mistrust is on the rise and the three unseen opponents are getting more driven, deadly and dangerous.**

**Right, I've decided that once this story is done, I',m taking a little hiatus from Supernatural, I need a break (partly why this ones taking so long because it isnt flowing as much as usual) and updating another of my stories so three is the last one for a bit. But I will return.**

**But we still have two chapters left of this one, you know the drill by now, and please lots of reviews, you know I like them!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural**

Scarred Vision

"Since when was there a blue eyed demon?" Sam hissed in alarm, squinting out of the window to see the leader of the troops that had surrounded the building.

"You got me, that's a new one. You're the geek who's been doing the Hermione bit, you come across a blue eyed demon?" Dean asked, and Sam shook his head.

"Do I look like a person in the know? I'm as confused as you are. Come on, we need to warn the others." Sam ordered, and Dean sagged slightly, knowing full well even explaining this wasn't going to be easy as there were a lot of uninitiated people in there. He grinned. Sammy could handle this.

"What's going on out there, who are those people?" Elaine, one of the people who had been brought into protective custody demanded of them as they entered the darkened main room, which Sam and Dean didn't dare illuminate in case it drew their attackers to them all the quicker.

Marion sighed, sending a significant look to the boys in the darkness. There were twelve of them in the station all together. Along with Sam, Dean and Marion, there were six other police officers, Billy, Candi, Neil, Eric, Nina and Clark. Clark had been one of the ones they had figured was a target, and he had been in the loo when the power had gone off, much to his great disgust. Bernard was also present, the coroner who had examined their dead body had also inherited the Valente case, which they figured had made him a target as well. And finally, also present were Heston and Elaine, who though tenuously linked, may also have been on the hit list of these weird bad guys, simply because it was their little domestic (Heston had run over her foot by accident and she hadn't seen the funny side) that had prevented Clark from being in the station when Valente had attacked. And now, Marion was going to have to explain to all these people about the world of the supernatural. Great.

"We don't have a choice Marion. Alright, listen up. Some of you were brought in for protective custody. Well, the people we're trying to protect you from are right outside. They're the ones who've cut the power, and they've surrounded the station, and believe me these guys aren't amateurs, they'll have every exit blocked as well." Sam explained and Elaine looked at him in alarm.

"Why do these people want us dead? It doesn't make any sense!" she wailed, and Heston held her to him worriedly.

"Elaine is right, we've done nothing, we don't even have a criminal record! The most we've done is when I...well when I ran over her foot last year." He admitted sheepishly, making her scowl at the memory.

"Yeah, and it's that little domestic of yours that could have put you on their radar." Dean explained grimly, and Clark, an older man with a bushy head of white hair, looked at him in surprise.

"What the hell does that mean? Why would that make them possible targets?" he demanded and Marion sighed.

"Because of you Clark. You were there, which puts them on these guys radar I'm afraid." He explained, and Clark's mouth dropped, and the couple couldn't help but shoot him a resentful look.

"Will someone please explain who the hell these guys are and why they want us all dead?" Nina demanded impatiently, and Sam waved a hand to quieten her.

"We will. Alright, cliff notes version. This is all to do with the Valente Massacre last year. When he killed everyone, it looks like he put you guys in the guys outside's crosshairs. They seem to be killing anyone and everyone who was remotely connected with the massacre, which is basically all of you since you new guys replaced the people he killed. To tell you the truth, that's about as much as we know." Sam finished lamely, and Neil looked at him nervously.

"Surely they're all blind right? I mean Nina and I caught a glimpse of their eyes, they have to be blind." He insisted, but Sam shook his head sadly.

"We don't think they can see but they aren't blind. Them and their friends can still see well enough to kick our asses I'm afraid." He said, and Billy shook his head.

"That's impossible." He stated stubbornly, and Marion sighed, if any of them hoped to survive tonight, he was going to have to bite the bullet.

"Alright listen up. Needs must when the devil vomits into your kettle. So here goes. The supernatural exists. And I know you think I'm crazy, but take a look at those guys out there. They're all blind, their eyes scarred, yet they can still kick the asses of two healthy, fit young men without breaking a sweat. They also don't die when they get shot, and so far the only way we've been able to kill them is to chop their heads off. I'm laying it on the line here people. The supernatural exists. Angels, demons, ghosts, monsters, all of it. And don't ask us what category those guys outside fall under, because we don't know, but all we know is they're dangerous and we're going to need all of you in the know if we're going to survive tonight. Questions?" Marion asked cheerfully.

As expected, the faces of everyone else seemed to signify that he was mad.

"Look, you need to believe us. We don't know who or what these guys are but we do know they're dangerous. And what's more, the guy in charge is a demon, and he's a type we've never seen before. We've dealt with red, black, yellow and white eyed demons, but this guy is a new one on us, he's a blue eyed demon, and trust me, when something new appears, it usually means there's an entire crapload coming our way." Dean explained, heading over to the kit bag.

"You three are nuts!" Bernard accused, and Marion nodded.

"Yes, most likely. But we're also right. Valente, the one who caused this, was a monster, a Leviathan. Thankfully they've been beheaded and won't bother anyone for a while. At least that's the theory. Believe me, you need to trust us on this. I know you're all a bit staggered, I only found out about this stuff last year, but it does exist. A Leviathan is what bit off my leg. Sam and Dean here fought the devil himself. And the first demon." Marion said proudly, making the boys grin nervously.

"Lilith." Nina whispered, making everyone turn around to face her in shock.

"How the hell do you know about Lilith?" Dean demanded suspiciously, and she sighed.

"Frankly? My dad was obsessed with demons. He studied all sorts of books on them, has loads, they're all still in the house. Lilith was his favourite, he basically wrote a biography of her." She explained and Sam and Dean looked at each other worriedly, a Lilith fan was the last thing they needed.

"Um, your dad, what happened to him?" Dean asked suspiciously, hating himself for hoping he'd been discouraged somehow from his bizarre Lilith infatuation.

"He died two years ago, why?" she asked curiously, and the boys relaxed, theoretically it meant he shouldn't pose much of a threat should his ghost decide to try and woo Lilith from beyond the grave if both he and she were happily dead.

"Wait, so this Lilith dame exists?" Eric asked in disbelief and Dean gave him a cold grin.

"Not anymore, we've killed the bitch twice, we chopped her head off with Death's scythe last time." He explained cheerfully, making the others all look at them in shock.

"So, demons and everything, they actually do exist?" Nina asked weakly and Sam, Dean and Marion nodded.

"Yeah. We know it's hard to believe, but they do. And right now, a bunch of supernaturally charged people outside want to kill us. Which means, if any of us are going to survive tonight, we're going to need your help." Marion explained grimly, and while they all looked scared, they all nodded reluctantly.

"So," Sam asked as he revealed a kit bag he had brought in earlier, and pulled Mjolnir from inside it, prompting a jealous look from Dean, "who wants what?"

XX

"A roadblock?" Tyers asked in surprise in Sioux Falls police station.

Sheriff Jody Mills, who's mind seemed to be worrying about something other than the unexpected visit by the FBI, nodded absently, looking out of the window towards Brandon.

"It's weird, all the roads into the town have been blocked off, either by an accident or through some unexplained action, it's bizarre." She said frowning as she read the reports, and Tyers frowned herself.

They hadn't expected to come to Sioux Falls, they had planned to head right for Brandon, however, a traffic jam and a missed opening had led them to come to Sioux Falls instead. And upon their arrival they had found a deputy explaining that something was blocking all traffic into Brandon, and suggesting they talk to the sheriff, which was what had brought them here. And this was where they had found a very concerned Jody.

Knowing full well Tyers was scrutinising her (the fact that she hadn't mentioned the boys was encouraging her, maybe it meant she hadn't tied them to her in any way yet) Jody was trying to keep her face impassive, but she was having little luck. She knew the boys were in Brandon, helping Marion with a serial killer who seemed to be screaming that he was supernatural. That in and of itself was bad enough with the FBI still on their tail. The problem was made worse though by the fact that Brandon now seemed to be cut off from the outside world. She had tried each number the boys had, she had tried Marion's two phones, the police station and the rest of the emergency services. She also had a couple of friends and a couple of shops that she occasionally visited in Brandon, and she had heard nothing from any of them either. It was like the entire place had been cut off from the rest of the outside world.

Something supernatural was clearly going on, and she was finding it hard to concentrate on anything while it was happening, she was worried sick about all three of them.

The year before, when the boys had been explaining about the Apocalypse and what it would entail, and also after they had summoned the Four Horsemen, Dean had explained about the Croatoan virus and his dark warnings were running through her head now, fearing that that was what had happened to Brandon.

"Sheriff? Can you think of any reason why Brandon would be blocked off?" Tyers asked, her beady eyes focused on Jody who was too busy imagining a station without her present to pay much attention.

This was ridiculous, how was she supposed to help the boys if this blasted FBI agent was in the way?

"No or otherwise I would have done something to try and fix it already." Jody said in irritation, trying to get a hold of Garth, but his was going to answer phone, a joint message from him and that sock puppet of his. Boy really was off his head.

"Sheriff..." Tyers said, cutting off Jody as she tried to dial Felix's number, and she looked up at the FBI agent who was making such a nuisance of herself.

"Look agent, one of my tributary towns has gone completely blind, so if you'll pardon my rudeness, I think I should focus on fixing that situation before I ask any more of your stupid questions." She hissed, and Tyers gave her a dangerous smile.

"Oh, I would advise you to answer our questions sheriff. Or are you really naive enough to think that we don't know about you, Sheriff Martin, Garth Fitzgerald and Missouri Mosely? Your little support group for the Winchesters? Which unless I miss my guess now includes the elderly gentleman who allowed them to escape us in Whitefish and in Stockbridge?" Tyers asked smugly, and Jody went white.

"How the hell..."

"We're the FBI sheriff. Now, we don't know what you know about the Winchesters, we don't know much about them. But we do know that you at least have some idea of what's going on in Brandon, and you are going to tell us or you're quickly going to find yourself under arrest for impeding a federal investigation." She said in a faux sweet voice and Jody glared up at her, and narrowing her eyes.

"I don't know what's going on in Brandon Agent. And considering you've been trying for a year to catch Sam and Dean, I reckon they're relatively safe from you. Especially since at the moment for some reason you can't even get into Brandon. Now, if you don't mind, I am trying to organise some help for Brandon. Because as you might have guessed, something bad is going on there, and unless we want it to escalate, you'll let me do my job!" she snapped, and while Tyers recoiled with a glare on her face, she did give a grudging nod.

Jody bit down a sigh of exasperation. This wasn't good. The FBI were here, and contrary to their beliefs, they actually did know about the friends of the boys who were dotted about the place. They were basically a stone's throw from where the boys were, and she could be certain that as soon as there was a way to Brandon, Tyers would be on them.

So the question remained, how the hell was Jody going to get the boys out of this one and manage to keep her job at the same time?

XX

"So, shotguns are the way to go?" Billy asked nervously, readying his weapon, and Dean nodded.

"Yeah, they seem to be. Look, I know all of you are a bit overwhelmed by all this." He admitted, and Elaine looked at him incredulously.

"You think?" she asked, an angel blade in hand (Dean was immensely thankful Sam had thought to bring a kit bag of weapons into the station with him, even if it did mean Sam kept his hammer. He had however consented to allow Dean the use of the archangel blade).

"Um, not wanting to alarm you guys, but the blockade's moving." Nina said worriedly as she finished salting the doors.

Sam was by her side instantly, as was Marion as the scarred assassins began to move in towards the station.

"Alright, positions people!" Dean ordered, covering the door with Sam and Marion, the others all taking up their positions, some of them nervous but collected, others, such as Elaine and Heston, shaking with fear and fright as they prepared to be invaded.

The door then slammed open, allowing the assassins entry into the station, and at Sam's cue, the entire room opened fire. There were audible grunts as two of the assassins entered the room, but there was then too many, all of them pushing into the station their weapons bared as they surged through the small gap.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean yelled as another assassin like the one they had fought last time, wielding maces and with the trident scars over their eyes, entered the room, swinging his weapons.

Sam grimaced as they were pushed back from the door, Elaine screaming behind them as she fired relentlessly, but he couldn't deny, panicked though she was, the lady was a pretty good shot, she had taken down two already. Eric whimpered as one of the original troops with the pyramidal scars entered, his quarterstaff raised to deal him a deadly blow. Clark however was all over it, firing three shots in quick succession into his head, which at least seemed to slow him down and allowed Eric to get back to his feet.

"Commander! Dismantle one of the salt lines so that I may enter!" a cold, silky voice boomed from outside and Sam and Dean exchanged dark looks with each other, there were still troops hurtling into the station, the last thing they needed was for the demon to enter as well.

However, when the one with the trident eyes moved back towards the door, it at least gave Sam and Dean a little information, those guys were apparently commanders of whoever these whackjobs were.

"They don't die!" Candi shrieked, diving to the floor, as one of the last sort they had encountered, the one with the pentagrams on their eyes, twirled their double bladed sword in order to dice her to ribbons.

"Alright, this isn't working!" Marion yelled, ducking as a quarterstaff was thrown at his head.

"Yeah no kidding." Dean grumbled, stabbing upwards with the angel blade into one of the rank and file.

The attacker let out a silent gasp as the blade punched through his neck, however, to Dean's surprise, there was an orange flickering appearing all over his skin and from his mouth, and also shining through the marks of the pyramid scars.

"Hang on, he's a..." he began to say in realisation before one tackled him and sent him to the floor.

"That's the ticket love! Shoot them!" Heston encouraged, both of them having reloaded and now having blown the heads off several troops each, but it didn't seem to be doing much to slow them.

"Dean!" Sam yelled anxiously as his brother struggled with his attacker, and with gusto, Sam swung the hammer down into his brother's opponent's head, and with a clap of thunder, he was reduced to mush on the floor, his robes smoking.

"Such a cool toy!" Sam said in excitement as Dean got back to his feet, shaking his head.

"Child." He scolded lightly, before lunging away to avoid the swipe of a double bladed sword.

Bernard fired another round from his shotgun, taking down another of the attackers, holding their stampede ever so slightly. Marion was then right beside him, taking down the next one in the advancing rank, dropping the bloodied body to the floor with a well placed shot.

Candi squealed as she raised the angel blade to deflect the quarterstaff of one of the troops, a squeal which turned to one of excitement as she stabbed him through the neck, dropping his body to the floor.

Neil was thrown bodily across the room, slamming into the wall in a daze, and was just about to push himself off the wall when a double bladed sword impaled him, sticking him upright against the wall. Neil gave a gurgle and went limp, hanging against the wall.

"No!" Nina yelled in shock, as a furious Marion and Bernard fired numerous rounds, determined to get to their fallen comrade, even though both knew it was too late.

"Dean! The guy with the maces is at the door! Ahh!" Heston yelled as a sword stabbed through his arm, leading Elaine to blast the trooper who attacked her husband in the head.

Dean looked up in time to see the commander swing the maces and shatter the doorframe, and Sam's eyes widened in realisation.

"It wasn't the salt that was keeping him out, it was the iron in the doorframe." He exclaimed before catching another rank and file troop in the chin with the hammer, turning them into nothing more than a pile of rags.

Candi blasted at the commander, but it was already too late as there was a cold laugh and the next second, there was a black blur, and the demon with the shining blue eyes appeared in the centre of the room.

"Hello there." He said with a wicked grin, before darting faster than the eye could see and throwing Sam over the room.

"Sam!" Dean yelled as his brother crashed through a desk, landing with a feeble groan as the battle raged around him.

The demon turned to direct a cold smile onto Dean, and with the blink of an eye, he had crossed the room, avoided the fighters and had appeared right in front of Dean. He then grabbed a surprised Dean and crashed his head into the wall, dazing Dean before he kicked him in the back of the leg, dropping him to the ground.

"Dean!" Marion yelled, firing a shotgun round at the demon, but he was gone, appearing in a twirling blur who with a simple slap sent Marion twirling to the ground in a heap while Bernard was thrown into a filing cabinet. The demon gave a dark smile and advanced when Candi picked up the demon knife, which the boys had given to Marion and dove forward. The demon gave a furious scream of pain as the blade punched right through his back and lung, making him stagger, but as a feebly stirring Dean noticed, there was no crackling, no flashing light, which meant that whatever sort of demon this guy was he was too powerful to be killed by the knife.

"Nice try." He complimented before kicking her across room where she ruptured the water tank, soaking herself and the floor as she slumped down in a dead slump.

"Gentlemen, cease!" the demon ordered, bringing the troops to a stop, all of them remaining troops standing leeringly around the fallen combatants.

"What are you going to do to us?" Heston demanded as he and his wife nursed their wounds while Sam and Dean stirred feebly.

The demon smiled assuringly.

"Oh nothing to you, not yet at least. You see, we've wanted the deaths of the Winchesters here for a good while, and now, they're finally in my grasp." He purred, and he raised his hand out in front of him, and the next thing the boys knew, Sam and Dean were levitated across the room and slamming into one another, dropping to the floor like stones.

Nina watched warily, as the blue eyed demon circled the fallen boys. She had to do something, if she didn't, and the boys were killed, they were all screwed, it was them who they really needed dead, while they all lived they had a chance. She watched as Sam and Dean raised their heads blearily to glower at the demon.

"Who the hell are you?" Dean demanded irritably, rolling with the pain he was in, which was quite substantial.

The demon bent down, the shining blue eyes scaring Sam slightly, leading to him backing off ever so slightly.

"My name is Veltas, and as you can see I'm a blue eyed demon." He purred, as the boys groaned in pain, but as Dean rolled back onto his back to try and stop himself hurting, he saw Nina make a move, grabbing a fallen angel blade and stabbing upwards.

"No!" Veltas hissed, turning and with a gesture snapping her neck in two, leading to cries of loss and denial from her colleagues, however the damage was done.

The blade had burst through the trooper's stomach, and with a scream, blazing white light shone from his eyes and mouth, before he fell to the floor, vastly depleted wings embossing themselves on the ground.

"He was an angel!" Marion exclaimed in surprise, his eyes drawn to another of his fallen cadets.

Veltas snarled in annoyance, he hadn't wanted that revealed. These boys were learning all too much about the Perpurigo, and quite frankly, what with Veronica's death they had quite enough to be going on with without still having to deal with this mess. It was time that he put this matter to bed once and for all. Everything was nearly done here in Brandon and once everyone in here was dead and the station destroyed, then everything would be dealt with. So now, it was time to end this.

"Enough of this." He snarled, and he flicked his hands.

Sam looked up at him in shock as his two index fingers extended into long, thin needles. This guy was definitely new.

"And now, this ends." He hissed, and stabbed the two needle like nails into Sam and Dean's temples making them scream in pain as he did so.

It was like fire was rushing through their veins, they could feel their skulls heating up to impossible levels. It was like molten lava was burning down the insides of their skulls, and both boys were screaming in mindless pain, writhing and jerking as Veltas prepared to finish them off. Sam and Dean were scratching at their skulls, trying determinedly to stop the heat that both of them were sure was baking their brains.

Marion looked on in alarm as Sam and Dean screamed in terrible pain. Burning hot orange light was starting to blaze out of their mouths and eyes, similar to what would happen to an angel when it was killed.

"Let them go!" he demanded, and Veltas gave a high cold laugh.

"You have lost. After you pair are finished, we will kill the rest and all will be back to normal." He gloated as the boys screaming started to shudder, they were clearly dying.

They had to do something, the troops were raising their weapons, they were going to kill them all as soon as the boys died, they just wanted them to watch first.

Eric, who had been beside Sam, caught sight of Mjolnir just away from him. With a burst of effort, knowing that if the boys died, none of them would survive, he kicked the handle of the hammer with all of his might. Veltas was slightly distracted as he saw the hammer spin away from Eric's foot, the troop slamming his quarterstaff into Eric's ankle. Eric screamed in pain as the hammer thudded against Sam's thigh, and with a drive of determination, Sam grabbed the hammer and pushed through the pain, and swung the hammer upwards in a leap of faith.

Veltas didn't stand a chance. Distracted as he was by the actions of Eric and his soldier, Veltas couldn't do anything to stop Sam. The hammer caught him right under his ribcage, lifting him into the air with the momentum. His entire body was crackling with electricity as he gave an echoing scream, flying through the air and crashing through the ceiling into the next floor, where he fell with a whimper.

Sam and Dean gave shuddering gasps, trying to balance the world again as the troops looked to the ceiling for orders. As the boys clutched their heads, the troops raised their weapons to finish the captives when Marion whistled for their attention.

"Hey!" he barked, revealing the banishing symbol he had drawn with the blood that had pooled beneath Neil's body, and the angel faction of the troops, roughly a quarter of them, screamed in alarm as they were banished.

However, to Marion's great surprise, there was then a rustling noise, and the shaking boys looked blearily upwards to see another angel glaring down at them disdainfully.

"Fall back." He ordered, before he vanished upstairs, picked up a weakly stirring Veltas, and left the exhausted and quivering combatants shaking in pain or fear on the floor.

XX

"There's still no answer from anyone in Brandon, we need a task force there." Tomas said grimly, and Tyers nodded.

"I couldn't agree more. Sheriff, despite your less than professional relationship with the Winchesters, you have been helpful in this, so I suppose due to your usefulness, I won't take you in even though I should. Lucky for you I've got bigger fish to fry, and I need to get to Brandon. You'll hear from us when we arrive." Tyers said dismissively before trotting out of the station and for the first time since she had arrived, Jody breathed out a sigh of relief.

That had been too close. Tyers knew full well about her relationship with the boys, she was very good at her job, and she had power and resources. In short, she was the last sort of person any of them needed pursuing Sam and Dean, and now, the Rottweiler was on her way to Brandon to try sand capture the boys.

Jody couldn't do anything, she had been lucky to avoid being taken in at the very least, and now Tyers was heading into a potentially deadly situation, in order to arrest the boys, who were in a town that was for some reason completely cut off from the outside world.

"Oh this is bad...come on, one of you three has to answer the phone, or give me some way to contact you! The FBI are coming right for you, get out of there!" she begged as she once again began a fruitless phonecall to Sam.

XX

"You ok?" Dean asked a weak Sam as Elaine fussed over the two of them, and Sam just groaned in response, he looked like Dean felt, pale, with massive bags under his eyes, his face drained, a round scar on his temple, a pale sheen of sweat covering him, his hair bloody and matted.

"I felt better at Cold Oak than I do now." He grumbled, leaning his head against the wall and closing his eyes, but Dean poked him with his foot.

"Hey, stay awake we don't know what that guy was capable of." He warned as Marion looked nervously outside.

"Good news is we stopped their attack. Bad news is, they're just waiting to launch round two, though there are only the same number as we had before, the angel didn't bring any reinforcements which is only good." Marion said worriedly as Heston, looking rather the worse for wear, his plump face slashed by one of the lieutenant's swords, looked at him incredulously.

"Only good? Are you crazy? They killed two of us already!" he exclaimed, and Clark looked at him grimly, his weapon trained on the windows as Billy and Candi redid the protection, back turned to the room where they were storing Nina and Neil's bodies.

"We're lucky that's all they killed. Mind you for people who didn't even know the supernatural existed until about an hour ago we made a good accounting of ourselves." He mused and Dean nodded tiredly.

"Yeah, especially since we were fighting angels and demons. I thought they were human?" he asked Sam and his little brother, who had been rubbing his aching head tenderly, nodded his agreement.

"Yeah, so did I. The ones we've fought before definitely are. They must have a selection, it must be made up of angels, demons and humans, which explains the stuff you found doc. The runes on their ribs are from the angels and the sulphur comes from the demons. Making them all but untraceable." Sam said, shuddering, and Dean, past caring and not above admitting Veltas had gotten a little too close for comfort, hauled himself to his brother's side, sitting beside him and using the warmth of his body to try and warm Sam up.

They still felt like crap. He definitely did, he felt weak, tired, shaky, nauseous, his head was pounding, his sinuses and senses were burning, his mouth was parched...

This guy Veltas was seriously bad news.

"So, this blue eyed demon, this Veltas, how do you get rid of him?" Candi asked nervously, squatting down beside Dean and helping Elaine mop his forehead, both of them were still very hot, and she wasn't thinking of that in the good way.

Sam frowned musingly. He had hit Veltas with his hammer and it hadn't killed him. Admittedly, it hadn't been a clean hit, but still, the fact that he had survived gave him a bad feeling. It also opened up the possibility that the knife wouldn't work on the bastard, rather reducing the weapons they could use against him.

"No idea, we've never faced a blue eyed demon before, he's something new." Dean admitted, rubbing his temple to try and alleviate the burning pain present there.

"Bobby once told me they don't get new unless the Mother of All is in town. God she isn't back is she?" Marion asked worriedly, and Sam shook his head.

"Not that we know of. And I reckon you're right, this guy isn't a new demon, he's just a type we haven't seen before, which is odd itself. What, some sort of demonic intelligence thing? Went all Starship Troopers on us and started trying to suck out our brains?" he asked in confusion, and Dean shrugged.

"All I know is the guy meant serious business. And...that Cas isn't answering." He said, expecting to be told off by Sam but his brother jut sighed.

"I did tell you, he doesn't even come when you call him now. But, admittedly, his help would be pretty good right now if only to fix us up, because when they come back, we're all screwed." He said miserably, trying to fall asleep until Billy nudged him with his toe.

"Hey! Stay awake. Isn't there a way to get rid of a lot of demons at once? Wouldn't that get rid of some of the troops that are left out there?" he asked, and Dean shook his head miserably.

"No, we don't have the resources to make the demon bomb, or the time, they'll be back before that. If Cas would answer maybe," he theorised, yelling Cas' name to no avail, "but without that we're kind of screwed." He reported, seeing the faces of the other's fall.

Sam then looked at Marion, his tired face getting the same look it often did when he got an idea.

"Hang on, do you have a loudspeaker or something?" he asked hopefully, and Marion nodded.

"Well yeah, but what are you going to do, serenade them to death?" he asked in disbelief and Sam grinned wearily.

"Not quite, but that's along the right lines. Let's go get it we have work to do."

XX

Kerubiel had laid Veltas out on the ground while he surveyed the damage. It was clear that the demon's entire ribcage had been shattered by Sam's attack. Kerubiel snorted dismissively. If the boy hadn't been subjected to torture at the time, or if he had had a proper shot, Veltas would be nothing but a pile of bloody rags. And frankly the loss of Veronica was more than enough to be getting on with.

"Heal me Kerubiel and I'll...crush them." Veltas barked, finishing in a pained wheeze and the angel rolled his eyes.

"You know, I didn't actually come here to save your scrawny backside demon, I came to warn you that it would be unwise to head home at present, things are rather tense between Lexii and Seraphim at the moment, things are fraught to say the least. Besides Veltas, you know I can't heal a demon, it's impossible, I'm afraid you'll need to report to the physician." He said, barely keeping the glee out of his voice.

Their physician was a former druid named Isla. She was now in between the two extremes that consisted of her species, neither a druid or a darach. She also had an appalling bedside manner and most of the group believed she caused more problems than she solved.

"Can't you make an exception just this once? This is Ember and I's mission!" Veltas complained angrily, and Kerubiel clucked his tongue impatiently.

"It isn't my decision as you know full well, I'm physically unable to heal you, even Seraphim couldn't, it's because I'm an angel and you're a demon and usually we're enemies. Now be a good lad and stop whining while I think." He said, turning back to face the station musingly.

As Veltas groaned and moaned beneath him, Kerubiel mused over this. He had seventeen troops left, which meant he had sixteen to use, at least one had to escape to lead the Winchesters into Ember's waiting clutches. She would be most displeased if he killed them when she was only midway through her game, in all the millennia he had known her, she had always liked to play with her food. But he couldn't just pull them away, appearances had to be kept up and the mission had to be completed.

Veltas was clearly out of action, so he either had to be sent home, or sent to Ember, who, sadistic as she was, would probably make him worse before she made him better. At least when Isla did that she was fixing you at the same time (well that was what she told people anyway). Kerubiel supposed that her years of performing the mutilations on the Ancilla had driven her slightly round the twist.

Which meant the troops would be left leaderless.

"Don't even think about it Kerubiel, this is my mission!" Veltas protested, and Kerubiel growled.

"Your ribs are broken you fool, go home. I will finish here. If nothing else I can finish off the remaining witnesses and end the matter here in Brandon." He said and Veltas glowered.

"Fine, have it your way. At least have a heart and send me to Akpach, he can fix me." He ordered and Kerubiel grinned.

"That way I would have no fun. Have fun with Isla." He said brightly, sending him back to the castle, Veltas swearing at him as he did so.

He had little choice. This pointless exercise had to end. At the very least, the four others who were linked to the Valente massacre had to be killed for their mission to be successful, and then Ember could play with the Winchesters till her heart was content. Which meant that he had work to do.

"Commander, prepare our forces for the final assault." He ordered, and the commander nodded, before silently asking him a question.

"No we shan't wait for the angel forces to recover. We shall end this threat here and now. Except for you my friend." The commander said something else to his superior in his silent voice, and Kerubiel nodded.

"I am aware of that, however, this shouldn't take long enough for them to do such a thing. You worry too much commander. Now, remember, hold back. We only need you wounded, not dead." He warned, and the Ancilla commander nodded as they prepared to begin their attack.

XX

"Am I the only one with a very bad feeling about this?" Grayson asked as they neared Brandon, none of them able to make the town out in the darkness, the town was completely in the dark, totally cut off from the rest of the state, never mind the rest of the world.

"Oddly enough no." Tomas replied, frowning worriedly out of the window as they got closer to the town, and Tyers frowned to herself, something about this just wasn't right, wasn't right at all. Maybe she should have taken the escort Mills had offered her, true the sheriff had only offered her it to get her out of her hair, but still, the offer had been there.

And once again she couldn't help but wonder what the hell was so important about the Winchesters that they had the director himself gunning for them, and why it was that every time they showed up, something weird seemed to happen.

But she did know one thing, she was finally catching up to them. She could taste it, she almost had them in her grasp. Brandon was where the chase would end.

She was sure of it.

XX

"They're moving!" Clark yelled as the troops surged towards the building, the angel strolling leisurely towards them as the troops bounded up the steps and into the station.

"Sammy, now!" Dean yelled, still tired, but he and the others opened fire, raining bullets down on the seventeen troops that were surging through the door.

Sam, hooked up to the loudspeaker, began chanting an exorcism in Latin, stopping about four of them in their tracks. As the remaining defenders marshalled around Sam in order to protect him from their attacks, he upped the pace, throwing about Latin phrases as he tried to banish some of the demons to hell. The four affected troops screamed as Sam continued his attempts to banish them, the other troops held at bay by the gun fire of the other defenders, and as Sam reached the end of his chant, four of them were expelled from their bodies in black streams of smoke, dropping their vacant hosts to the floor.

The angel then appeared right behind them, rolling his eyes as he surveyed the defeated troops.

"You just can't get the staff these days." He lamented before turning his full attention onto the defenders, who were now clustering around a still weak Sam and Dean.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Kerubiel snarled, clicking his fingers and Clark blew apart as he had just tried to use the sigil to banish the angel.

As Candi and Elaine screamed as both of them were covered in Clark's blood, Marion and the others raised their weapons, while Sam and Dean, standing without support now, glared at the angel who they were dealing with.

To Sam, he looked fairly similar to the one they had barely managed to escape in Whitefish. He was clad in shining bronze armour, which was marked by emerald green Enochian symbols. Emeralds were inlaid into his armour, giving him a shining appearance. He had a young face, which contrasted with his long white hair which was tied into a ponytail down his back. He had slightly golden skin and his eyes were a shining shade of lilac.

"Your race is run, though I must admit, you've made a good accounting of yourself to leave us with only thirteen of the troops we originally started with. But now it is finished. The ironic thing is, all of you didn't need to die." He explained, and Dean glared at him.

"Yeah, neither did all the other potential witnesses around here but I bet you killed all of them too. Who are you guys?" he demanded angrily, and Kerubiel smiled.

"Suffice to say, I am Kerubiel, and I am your killer. This ends now." He purred, revealing his staff, and with a sharp gesture, a long angel blade emitted from the top of it, making his staff the same height as him.

"Huh, cool modification." Eric commented, and Marion rolled his eyes.

"This has gone on quite long enough. Commander, kill them all!" Kerubiel barked, raising his hand, and Dean nodded.

"Now!" he yelled, and Heston appeared from behind them, throwing an improvised bomb that they had made with various chemicals they had found inside the station. As the defenders took cover, the various troops turned to see what was going on, leading to Kerubiel turning in alarm. The small bomb exploded, a plume of fire spreading outwards, killing two of the troops that remained, and the force of the explosion knocking the rest off their feet, setting all the remaining deks and cabinets on fire, the loud noise ringing in everyone's ears as they shook off the effects of the blast.

"Come on!" Dean ordered and his group ran for the stairs, avoiding the smouldering fires in the room as the troops got back to their feet, Kerubiel cursing as they did so.

"Typical. They always want to do things the hard way." He grumbled, then gestured for the remaining eleven troops to head up the stairs, sending the commander a significant look as he did so.

"Remember to only be grievously wounded commander, we need them to follow you into Ember's waiting grasp." He chided, and the commander nodded as he too headed up the stairs.

"Alright, get into position." Dean ordered as they reached the top of the stairs, and they all took moved so that they were all facing the door.

Sam however, was still weak, just as Dean was, and unlike his older brother, who was leaning on the mostly intact table that Veltas had crashed through when Sam had hammered him, he had nothing to lean against, and was now swaying dangerously.

"Hey, Sammy, you with me?" Dean asked, his brother shaking his head as if he'd been woken up and he swayed as he sent s bleary look at his brother.

"Yeah, just a bit drained that's all." He said weakly, and Dean pointed to the wall as he heard the first footsteps on the stairs.

"Lean against the wall and wait for my signal. Don't get killed either." He told him and his brother nodded meekly before heading to the wall.

"Alright folks, as you can see, our resident hunters aren't fighting at the full whack, so it's up to us. Let's go people!" Marion encouraged raising his rifle as the first of the troops barged through the door.

Sam lunged forward, his hammer crashing down with a clap onto the man's head turning him into a smoking pile of robes. However Sam was now overextended and now the second troop in the door turned and threw him back into the wall, his double bladed sword going right for Sam's head.

"Hey, jackass!" Dean yelled, and threw his angel sword, catching the troop right in the back of the head. As the man fell in a bleeding slump to the floor, the others all poured into the room, their weapons raised to kill the last of the defenders.

Elaine and Heston started firing with everything they had, slowing the first two troops into the room. Candi then nodded to Bernard, and the two of them appeared from the sides of the room, opening fire and catching two more of the troops in a deadly crossfire. After that however it got up close and personal. A soldier with a quarterstaff swung into action, his blade going right for Billy. The young police man desperately blocked the swing with his rifle, allowing Marion to get in close and blow the soldier's brains out.

Dean cursed as he was knocked to the ground by a lieutenant armed with one of the double bladed swords. Whatever sort of demon Veltas was, he had certainly taken it out of them. He swore as he moved out of the way of the plunging blade, the soldier determined to run the blade through his forehead. Dean chanced a quick look around to see all the others engaged in combat, and to make matters worse the commander was on his way up the stairs, mace raised to land a deadly blow upon someone. Dean avoided another stab, and then another, before calling on his strength to kick the soldier in the groin. Cursing as he remembered that there was nothing there to affect, Dean hastily grabbed for his angel blade as it slid across the floor, knocked this way by Sam's fight with another soldier. Grabbing the blade he cut upwards, sighing in relief as his attacker's head came flying off.

The commander had now entered the battle, his mace swinging through the air, a glancing blow hitting Sam on the shoulder and sending him to the ground with a cry of pain, grasping at the wound. His own attacker raised the quarterstaff to finish him when Bernard tackled him right into the swinging path of the mace, sending the man's head flying off and allowing Bernard to help a weak Sam to his feet. And it was then that Dean naively hoped to believe that they were winning, there were only five of them left.

And with a rustle of his wings, it was then that Kerubiel entered the battle, weapon at the ready.

The angel wasted no time and before Bernard, who had been tending to Sam, could do anything to stop him the angel blade buried itself in his chest, dropping the coroner to the floor. Sam then swung his hammer at the angel, but reduced to using his left arm due to the pain in his right, Kerubiel merely gave him a mocking grin and surged forward, right for Elaine and Heston.

The married couple opened fire, however the bullets merely pinged off the angel's armour as he got in close. Dean and Marion made their moves, angel blades going right for the leader of the group, but he simply vanished from their oncoming attack, appearing instead right in front of Heston and bringing his staff through his neck. Elaine screamed as she saw her husband gurgle with blood and fall to the ground, and she fell on the angel, assaulting him with her bare hands. Kerubiel, bored with these proceedings, merely rolled his eyes and gestured, exploding her across the room, and now the two sides were roughly equal, all of them clustering together while the assassins spread out to surround them.

"An impressive display nonetheless ladies and gentlemen, I am most impressed. But I think we always knew that it would end this way did we not? You have done well to defeat Veltas and kill so many of our men. Now, however, it is finished. Kill them." He ordered, and the Ancilla moved as one, quarterstaffs, swords and mace moving to end the lives of the defenders.

Dean wasted no time, leaping forward to tackle the commander. Catching the leader unaware, the commander stumbled back with the force of the impact, Dean's blade ripping through his side as the two of them crashed to the floor. Behind them, Kerubiel grinned and with a gesture Dean was sent flying over the room into the wall. The commander struggled to his feet and flung his mace, forcing the remaining defenders to scatter as he barged his way through the group, heading down the stairs, a trickle of blood making his progress.

That would keep Ember happy, now if things went well for her (and he didn't just finish them himself) she would get the Winchesters delivered right into her grasp.

Sam swung the hammer viciously, killing another of the troops, leaving them with only four troops remaining. Candi shrieked as a sword punctured her leg, but as she fell she stabbed the demon knife right into her attacker's neck. As the soldier span and collapsed to the ground, Billy and Eric took up positions to protect her, as the last three of the troops surged forward. But now, the battle was no longer in doubt.

"Hey, featherbrain! Chase me!" Dean goaded the angel as he bounded downstairs, and the angel snarled, darting after the disrespectful brat in order to bring an end to him once and for all.

"Dean!" Sam cried in alarm as his brother hurtled down the stairs, Kerubiel hot on his heels.

Eric blew the head off another of the soldiers, leaving only two, who now that they realised they were clearly screwed, desperately tried to start a retreat. The last lieutenant threw his sword towards Billy, catching him in the shoulder and he legged it towards the door before Marion appeared right in front of him and blowing his brains all over the place. The last of the troops then barged past Marion, knocking him off his false leg and sending him with a crash to the ground.

"Filthy swine, someone get after him! Hey where did Sam go?" he asked, upon seeing that the younger Winchester had indeed vanished.

Dean was backed into the corner of the room, his eyes drawn as a further soldier ran down the stairs, clearly making a break for it. Upon seeing this out of the corner of his eye, Kerubiel destroyed him with a simple gesture, he hadn't ordered a retreat so they had no business running, the one who was meant to escape had done so. No one else.

"I must question the wisdom of your actions here Dean. I know you Winchesters have a pathological need to defy authority and angels in particular, but I think you've forgotten that we're not all as tame as your little pet Castiel. Some of us are more than willing to scatter your atoms across the universe so that no matter what the other does, you will never be resurrected. Do I make myself clear?" he snarled, and Dean quirked his eyebrow in amusement.

"You sound like an ex of mine, oh wait, we got her killed too, which is exactly what we're going to do to you." He gloated and Kerubiel laughed darkly.

"Indeed? You are stuck here Dean, at my mercy. You are backed up against a wall, and now you are going to die. And you will do so all alone." Kerubiel gloated as he raised his staff sword to plunge it through Dean's gut.

"Really?" Dean asked, not able to keep a cocky tone out of his voice, which Kerubiel had to admit confused him slightly.

"Indeed. And your last thought on this earth will be as to where your dear brother is." He purred, and Dean grinned.

"He's getting the drop on you." He gloated, and Kerubiel span to see Sam, grinning and standing behind him, with his hammer raised.

"Like this." He said cheerfully and threw the hammer through the air.

Kerubiel cursed his own foolishness, he had been so absorbed in playing with his food that he had been unaware of Sam dropping down from the hole in the ceiling to land behind him. He hurriedly brought his sword staff into the way of the oncoming hammer, the hammer face meeting the tip with a rumble of thunder.

And then with a scream that Kerubiel realised was his own, the staff promptly shattered, the entire weapon breaking into tiny pieces in his hand. Screaming in pain, a powerful burning current of electricity zapped all the way up his arm, roasting the skin there as he took a pained stumble backwards, clutching at his spasming hand in an attempt to block out the pain he was feeling. Nasty metal shards from his broken weapon peppered him instantly, cutting into his face, arms and through the gaps in his armour. As the angel stumbled, clutching his ruined, spasming and burning hand, Dean made his move, raising his angel sword while Sam came at him with his hammer, prepared to kill the angel. Kerubiel, now suddenly fighting for his life, gestured desperately, sending a desk flying through the air and crashing into Sam, his hammer flying from his grip and crashing into a wall.

"Sammy!" Dean yelled in concern as his brother stirred, but the distraction had been what Kerubiel had needed, he narrowly avoided the swing of Dean's angel blade. Dean gave an angry growl, and stabbed right for Kerubiel's heart. The angel realised that this could very well be the end, so with all his might he blasted Dean backwards, and the hunter was caught as if in a wind and send in a spiral over the room. With the two Winchesters immobilised for the moment, still clutching his ruined arm, Kerubiel gave a final pained screech and vanished into nothingness.

And with that, the battle for the station was over, and all of a sudden the lights started flickering back to life, and the silence of victory suddenly became filled with phone calls and alerts for missed messages.

"Are you boys alright?" Marion called down the hole and as Dean saw Sam sit up looking a bit punch drunk, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah we're fine. It's over." Dean reported, and there were no cheers, no words of congratulations, there were just tired sighs of relief as they realised that the nightmare was at last over.

XX

Isla broke off one of Veltas' broken bones, ignoring his screaming as she did so. Honestly, there were all such babies, she would at least expect a demon to be more manlier than this.

"Mistress!" one of her aides gasped and she turned to see a weak and panting Kerubiel, clutching at a ruined, smoking and charred arm and Isla tutted and rolled her eyes.

"Spare me...just sit there quietly and wait your turn." She said sniffily, losing her patience with her current patient, he kept trying to shove her off and it was getting on her nerves.

She then took his arm and with a sharp gesture, snapped it in two.

Yes it made the idiot scream louder, but at least she could get her job done now.

Smirking slightly as Veltas whimpered she got back to work.

XX

"Well done commander, you did very well. And now, all we need to do is wait. Oh, and put you out of your misery." She purred, her yellow eyes flashing and the wounded commander who had left the trail leading here screamed as he was immolated.

Yes, now the Winchesters would come running. And when they arrived, she would be lying in wait, ready to destroy them once and for all.

Ember smiled in amusement. The last battle with the Winchesters would be decided in a mausoleum. And she had to say, she was looking forward to it.

After all, on your last night on earth, who wouldn't want to remember the past?

She smiled evilly as she sat down on the stone chair in the middle of the back wall.

Now all she had to do was wait.

XX

"Sam thank god I've been worried sick!" Jody panted in relief as he finally called her back, hours after she had began phoning each and every one of them in a complete and utter panic.

"Hey Jody." Sam said tiredly, however, along with being tired, his voice sounded a little bit wrong, but Jody was more interested in finding out what the hell was going on to notice.

"My entire station's emptied, I've only got a skeleton crew left here, what the hell has been going on?" she demanded and he sighed tiredly as Dean brought the Impala to a stop in Marion's garage, they had decided that hiding it from view would be the best way to go.

Dean, who had heard due to Sam putting the call on speaker, was the one who answered.

"The assassin guys who keep trying to kill us showed up again. Complete with an army. They attacked the station, but only after they completely cut off the town." He said grimly and she exclaimed in shock.

"Jesus...are you boys ok?" she asked, and Sam looked at Dean questioningly, who shook his head. She was going to have enough on her plate without them telling her about the blue eyed demon.

"We'll be fine Jody." Sam said quietly, and this time, she could tell that something was wrong.

"Sam, are you boys ok? Did you get my message in time to escape Tyers?" she asked worriedly, and Dean made a noise of assent.

"Luckily it was the first message Marion got, as soon as he found out he told us and we got the hell out of there. According to Marion we missed her by about five minutes. But we should be relatively safe from her, she's going to have bigger problems than us for a bit." He said in grim satisfaction and now Jody was convinced that there was something else wrong here.

"Sam, Dean, what's going on? I get that you're tired but you sound worse than that, what's going on?" she asked nervously and Sam gave a world weary sigh.

"Well these guys who're out to get us, they really cranked up their game. Two of Marion's officers are dead, so are a married couple and the coroner, the assassins killed them all. But that isn't all." Dean reported grimly, and that made Jody dread whatever she was about to hear next.

"It gets worse?" she asked in disbelief, and despite her being unable to see him, Sam nodded.

"Yeah. Anyone who lived in a residence surrounding the station, was killed. And know how there's a small kind of colony, the small bit of the town separated by West Holly Boulevard?" he asked and with a great deal of trepidation, Jody answered.

"Yeah..."

"They're all dead too apparently because it was on the main road into the town. Everyone Jody. There were over one hundred and fifty people killed in the town last night. They wiped out anyone who could have potentially seen them." He reported, his voice grim and Jody exclaimed.

"Sweet mother of Mary...right, after that I need to get there, if for no other reason than to give Marion a breather from Tyers. I'll see you boys in the morning, something makes me think I'm going to be around Brandon a while anyway. Get some sleep, I'll go home with Marion, then we can figure out that the hell we're going to do next ok?" she asked, and the boys made tired noises of assent before she hung up.

"Bright side? We have a way to trace the escapee, we can track him down in the morning." Dean pointed out, but Sam just shook his head tiredly.

"And what good will that do us Dean? Over one hundred and fifty people were killed tonight, simply because we don't have a clue what the hell we're dealing with. We nearly died because we were attacked by a demon we've never met before. Tracking down the commander isn't going to make me feel better about this Dean. It's Monument all over again, and yet again loads of people are dead because of us." He lamented tiredly, and Dean clapped his knee.

"Hey, don't you give up on me. We'll get these sons of bitches I promise. But I need you onboard with me to do that ok little brother? Now, come on. We've both had a long, crappy night and we need some sleep. When we get up, we can match notes with Marion and Jody and see if we can end this. You with me?" he asked, and with a sleepy nod, a damaged, world weary and hopeless Sam followed his equally miserable brother out of the car, out of the garage, shut it effortlessly and headed into bed, trying not to think about the massacre they had allowed to happen on their watch.

**Hello again! Sorry for the lateness of this update, work has been a chore this week since we dont have anything to do, and I keep getting distracted by videos on youtube, damn them. Anyway we are now updated for the second last time of this story!**

**So, the Perpurigo truly does mean business, as does Veltas. He may have been defeated but that doesnt mean he wont be back. And next chapter, we get to find out more about this mysterious blue eyed demon, and there could be an appearance, just a small cameo mind you, of Felix! But Felix aside, we only have one chapter left.**

**So just what does Ember have planned for the boys? What will the boys find in the mausoleum? What answers will be gained from the approaching showdown? Is Tyers going to get her hands on the boys this time or will they escape her yet again? And how are they going to deal with Ember when they find her?**

**We get answers enxt chapter, on Veltas, on the Perpurigo, on Crowley too, and we also get a hint as to what Mueller is up to. We also have a death, and, we have a cameo that I suspect some of you will be very happy to see**

**Cas is in the next chapter!**

**Until then read and review as always!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural (or Sam would put Dean in his place more often)**

Scarred Vision

Ember smiled as her soldier entered the mausoleum building where they had set up shop. He had laid down a trail and now the Winchesters would find themselves walking right into her trap where she could finally destroy them and end their threat once and for all.

"You have done well." She purred, and flicked her finger at the soldier, snapping his neck and dropping his body to the floor.

It wasn't as if she needed him anymore. She was more than adequate to deal with the Winchesters and any of their little tricks that they might have up their sleeves.

She smiled as she settled in to the large stone chair, which looked more like a throne, and leaned back in anticipation.

They would be here soon.

And then she would finally crush them.

XX

"So Tyers has effectively taken over?" Sam asked grimly as Marion and Jody flopped wearily into the chairs at the table.

Ever since they had found out about the mass murder Marion and Jody had been stuck in the police station, coroners had been drafted in from all the local areas to help shift so many bodies. Mueller was apparently going off his head, the press was making matters a million times worse than they already were which they really couldn't handle, Tyers had taken over the station and there was virtually no end in sight.

And on top of that, due to one hundred and seventy seven people being killed on his watch, there was every chance that Marion was about to lose his job as well.

"Did they say anything about your job?" Dean asked worriedly, and Marion gave a weak sigh.

"No, but as everyone from the town mayor all the way up is involved, rumour has it even President Obama has heard about this now, it's just a matter of time. I'm afraid I'm finished." He said forlornly, rubbing his temples wearily as the full implication of what was going on hit him.

"They can't blame you though, you were under attack too!" Sam protested and Jody sighed wearily, looking gaunt and tired.

"They know full well Marion couldn't have done anything, how the hell do you stop some weirdo cultish private army coming and tearing through your town, there's no defence. But after losing so many people, everyone will want to see someone punished for all this, and Marion is the top of the list. As the sheriff, he'll get the blame. A fair bit will probably get dumped on my doorstep too as I'm the closest sheriff to here. Yep, we're about two both get buried under so much shit from above you'll never find us." She said, her voice cold and hard, thoroughly annoyed but utterly broken about her situation.

"Marion, I'm sorry, I know that doesn't help but..." Sam began, but Marion waved him off with a scowl.

"Nonsense Sam, this isn't your fault, I'm the one who called you here after all. And none of us could have known what was going to go down here, you boys aren't to blame, you hear me?" he scolded lightly and both of them nodded.

"Yes sir." Dean replied, and Jody favoured both boys with a very tired smile.

"It is good to see you boys. Are you two recovered from the beating you got last night?" she asked in concern and Sam nodded.

"Yeah we are. Does Tyers still think we're here by the way?" he asked worriedly and Marion frowned.

"I couldn't tell you. I suspect she does know where you are, I think she certainly believes you're still in town but with so many murders to deal with I'm relieved to say you pair have taken a back seat. To the destruction of my career but at least she's out the way." He lamented and Dean frowned.

"Isn't there anything we can do about your career?" he asked, and Marion shrugged.

"Not really. They will want me gone though, they don't really have much choice. I'll be sent on gardening leave and never come back. But I can at least do some good before I bite the bullet and hand in my resignation, I won't let them fire me. So, what's the plan lads?" he asked, and Sam shrugged.

"We have a way to track the one that got away so we're going to go after him. If you get him will it help you any?" he asked Marion, and the older man shrugged.

"It might get me my gold pocket watch when I'm forcibly retired. Ah stop worrying about me. After I lost my leg I really should have packed it in anyway, I just wish I'd thought of that at the time and not gotten myself backed into this corner. So, we have that guy to hunt. But here's a question, what happens if we run into the blue eyed demon, Veltas I think he said his name was?" he asked, and Dean scowled.

"Yeah, we're working on that, we were going through our contacts when you guys came in. Hang on, I'll put this one on speaker phone." He said with a small grin that Sam and Jody shared, knowing who he was going to call while Marion looked at them in confusion.

The phone rang a few times before he finally got an answer.

"Is this thing on? Greetings Dean my lad, I beg you, a second of your time, I'm in a bit of a pickle here hang on...take that you wily rascal! Away with you! Well now there was no call to do that, most improper. Well I never! Hah, got you, you menace. That'll teach you to cross swords with old Felix! Look at this, she's broken me walking stick, that will never do..." he continued in this vogue for some time, cheering Marion up considerably as he heard the elder hunter ranting (impressively without swearing once) about the damage that had been inflicted on his cane.

"Alas, it is no more I'm afraid. However, back to the business at hand. Absolutely corking to hear from you old boy, how are you and Sam?" Felix asked, coming back to the phone, apparently deciding his walking stick was a lost cause.

"Oh that's Felix, he's brilliant!" Marion whispered and Jody grinned.

"We're mostly fine Felix, how are you?" Sam asked.

"Oh can't complain, knee's giving me a bit of gyp, got into a bit of an altercation with a shapeshifter in Colorado, but other than that I'm in fine fettle."

"Hello Felix." Jody chimed in.

"Ah and a good day to you my dear Jody, I find you in good spirits?" he asked and she sighed.

"We'll get to that in a minute, it's kind of why we called. A friend of ours is here too, Marion Martin."

"Good day to you Marion, I hope I find you well after your encounter with the Djinn, most unpleasant fellows when they put their mind to it. Now, how can I help you lot? Don't make me come over there, you broke my cane, I will be most disagreeable if you're thinking of getting back up!" he scolded whatever he had been fighting with, making Sam grin.

"What have you got?" he asked in professional interest and Felix gave him a long suffering sigh.

"A rather naughty Acheri demon, been causing all sorts of mischief, I think it's debating the pros and cons of not staying dead. Ah good, she's went still. Hang on, where's the business end of my cane? There's the devil. Right, that's her staying in place, dead or alive, leaving me to help you fine beings, what help can I be?" he asked curiously.

"Well first off, we've got major problems. Have you checked the news since last night?" Dean asked, and Felix didn't answer for a second, making Sam suppose he was shaking his head before it occurred to him that they couldn't see him.

"Alas no, I've been tracking this wily minx all night, what's happened?" he asked, his voice now tinged with professional curiosity.

"A bunch of bald, scarred guys in robes invaded my town and attacked my police station." Marion said with a scowl.

"The same guys who attacked us." Sam supplied helpfully.

"And when they attacked, they didn't mess about, they slaughtered one hundred and seventy seven people in the town to try and cover their tracks." Marion finished in disgust.

"Buggeration, this lot are becoming a more serious problem by the minute. My sincerest condolences on your losses my good man, you mustn't blame yourself for this shameful state of affairs. Did we learn anything more about these ruffians?" Felix asked.

"Yeah, it looks like the rank and files that we've dealt with have three ranks. The first one who nearly killed us looks like they're just the normal foot soldiers. The one we met in Stockbridge, the ones with the penatagrams around their eyes, seem to be lieutenants and we just dealt with a nastier one, with tridents, who seem to be the commanders." Dean elaborated.

"And that isn't all. It looks like they're made up of three different species, some are human, but there are others that are angels and some are demons too." Sam added.

"A most perplexing state of affairs indeed. But I'm afraid boys, that this doesn't help me in my quest to aid you in finding out about this menace." Felix said, sounding put out.

"Well this is what we really want your help with. Remember how we met the general guy in Stockbridge? We met someone who's apparently on an equal footing with him, a demon." Sam began.

"A demon controls them? Along with that angel we saw? This group truly is a bit of a conundrum, they seem most bizarre. But you lads have dealt with plenty of demons, why do you need my help?" he asked, sounding vaguely hopeful as though he were looking for some new information.

"Yeah, but this demon's eyes weren't any of the colours we've seen. We've dealt with black, red, white and yellow. Blue is kind of a new one on us." Dean finished, listening to Felix take a sharp intake of breath.

"A blue eyed demon you say? That's a new one on me too my friends, I've never heard of such a thing. What did he do?" he asked curiously, and Marion smirked slightly.

"You mean other than kick the snot out of us?" he asked and Felix chuckled.

"Yes, I rather gathered that new demons have a habit of surprising us hunters, very unsporting let me tell you. Yes I mean other than that, what can they do?" he asked, and Sam pouted.

"That's actually kind of what we were hoping you would tell us because these guys meant serious business. Ever even heard of one Felix?" he asked hopefully.

"Alas I'm afraid not my boy. A blue eyed demon was certainly a new one on me, I've not heard of one before. What could he do, that may help me narrow down the search when I get to my library." He asked curiously, and Dean leaned forward to fill him in.

"It seemed like he had super speed, and he had these fingers that grew into spikes and on top of that he had the usual powers of a normal pain in the ass demon, he seemed pretty tough as well, Sam whacked him with his hammer and it didn't kill him, hurt him though." He recited, and Felix made a thoughtful noise at the other end of the phone.

"Very well, I shall clean up here then head on to the library, see what I can't discover. I'll also contact my opposite numbers abroad." He said, and Marion looked at the phone curiously.

"What opposite numbers?" he asked, and Felix chuckled.

"I'm rather glad you asked that old boy. Being a graduate of Oxford you know, I still have a finger on the pulse of the university, and once, when I was just starting out as a hunter, I banished a ghost that was haunting the place, saving the life of one of the curators in the process. There are secret rooms in the Bodleian, containing all sorts of supernatural books, our sorts of books and they are a useful resource for any and all British hunters, and there are a fair few of them believe me, London has the biggest population of hunters, then Bristol and then Edinburgh. Anyway my curator friend will have a look for me, he's more a research fellow for hunters now, but still knows his stuff, I'll ask him to look up a blue eyed demon, I've already asked him to look up our mysterious attackers. I also asked an old friend of mine in the Vatican libraries to look too, they have massive vaults filled with books the church confiscated over the years, and others they've gathered from various collections, I spent some time in the Vatican doing research for my Masters degree and some damn fool cleric let out a pagan god that was imprisoned in a book, I had to deal with that. I shall get my sources onto it in a jiffy, don't you worry." He assured them, oblivious to the open mouths of Sam and Dean, both of them developing another level of respect for the old hunter.

"You have private access to the Vatican library? Good thing Bobby's dead, he'd have killed for access to that library, every hunter worth his salt has heard of the collections they have." Dean said, impressed, the Vatican's collection was about ten times the size of substantial collection in the bunker, if rumours were to be believed.

"We haven't heard of them." Jody lamented slightly and Sam grinned.

"Don't worry you guys are new." He said kindly, cheering Marion and Jody up a bit.

"Why didn't he just go there and explain to them? If he asked the right questions, enough to let them know he was a hunter, they'd have let him in." Felix explained and Sam grinned.

"He was afraid there would be divine punishment if he tried to enter the place, he feared smiting." He reminisced, and mused that Bobby had feared that even before they had found out about angels.

The others all laughed as Felix chuckled on the end of the phone.

"I see. Right then my good people, I must bury this rapscallion, and then get on with my mission. I shall alert Oxford and the Vatican, don't you worry about that, and I'll be in touch. So, until we meet again, I must bid you all a very fond farewell, until we next meet. By jingo, she isn't dead!" Felix exclaimed as he hung up, and the four of them stared at the phone till they received a text five minutes later.

'I have dealt her a truly mortal blow this time, never fear, old Felix is alright. Turns out, dropping a tea shipment on them is quite an effective weapon. Until next time, Felix. P.S I hope you're suitably impressed, due to patient tutoring from our mutual comrade Jackie, I am now with it on the texting front. Still can't work the rest of the phone, but at least there is progress on that front. Tata for now.'

"Great guy. Alright, Felix aside, what's our next move going to be? You boys seemed to deal with Veltas and that angel, what was his name, Kerubiel, but that doesn't mean they won't be healed by now. And that commander is still out there." Marion pointed out, and Dean nodded.

"Yeah, and along with him, Tyers is in town and when this crap is finished hitting the fan, she'll come after us, which means we need to finish this before she gets bored. So, we're going hunting. You guys coming?" he asked with a grin, and both police officers grinned, both of them showing them their guns.

"Just try and stop us." Jody challenged, making the two boys grin.

XX

"The situation is coming under control sir." Tyers reported, her head pounding.

After driving into town, they had discovered the grisly murders of over one hundred people, all in the same night, all of their bodies having been left in their wide open homes. The sheriff, who had been under attack by whatever had done all this, had been devastated to learn that so many of his charges had been slaughtered, and Tyers truly did feel sympathy for him. After helping them to get the dead tended to, she had sent him and sheriff Mills home while she continued to deal with the mess that had been made by these events.

"Do you need any reinforcements?" Mueller, his voice grim, asked, and she shook her head.

"No sir. The two local sheriffs have offered us every bit of help imaginable sir, and the amount of bodies they tallied up protecting themselves will go some way to alleviating some of the desires for revenge, and we have a load of people out helping us however they can, even if it's just cleaning the streets. But sir, I've got to say, people need answers and I don't really have any to give them." She said nervously as an exhausted looking Grayson and Tomas trudged into the office, hot cups of coffee in their hands, Tomas passing one to her which she nodded in response to, mouthing thanks to him.

Mueller made a thoughtful sound at his end of the phone.

"We need to keep this as low key as possible." He muttered to himself and despite herself she snorted.

"Sir, with all due respect, we've got no chance of that, it was all over the state news about two hours ago, now it'll be all over the country." She dismissed and he gave a tired snort himself.

"That isn't all, everyone from the Senate on up has heard of what's happened, the President has phoned me twice now, he wants answers." He said grimly, and she frowned.

"What did you tell him?" she asked curiously.

"That you hadn't reported in yet as you were still dealing with the fallout of what had happened. Alright, first things first, are all the bodies dealt with?" he inquired, and she made a noise of assent.

"Yes sir, all the dead, including the ones who were attacking the station, have been taken to the various morgues, funeral homes and coroner offices that we could find, but that's a little difficult here, their coroner was killed in the attack on the station." She explained, making Mueller groan a little.

"Alright, that's something at least. Where does the sheriff stand?" he asked curiously and after taking a look around the room to assure herself that none of his men were present, she continued.

"There was nothing he could have done sir, this was a squad of some sort of elite private army, they killed everyone they did to hide their tracks into the town I reckon. Have you ever heard of anything like this?" she asked, because this entire thing, some sort of bizarre cult private army slaughtering a swath of a town just didn't make any sense to her.

"No, but I assure you, I will be taking steps to make sure nothing like this ever happens again." He growled, and she believed him, something like this happening on home turf was just simply unacceptable.

"So what do I tell the press, there's more press than there are bodies now." She said wearily, and Mueller made a thoughtful sound.

"Tell them the truth Agent Tyers." He said, and she looked at her phone in alarm.

"With all due respect sir, you're crazy! You can't want me to tell all those press out there that some unknown weirdo cult had a private army attack a town and stage an Assault on Precinct 13 rerun that just won't fly!" she yelped, and he sighed in exasperation.

"Of course you don't tell them that Agent Tyers. What you do tell them is that pending investigations into the murders in town, a suspect was arrested. However, the mysterious employer who ordered those deaths wanted said suspect dead, and due to his power and wealth he ordered an entire private army into Brandon to rescue him and they committed all those murders in an attempt to break the suspect out in order to prevent us from crippling a drug and trafficking ring. Actually, do tell them that, we've just broken one wide open, we can link it up to them, help us hide this mess. And I actually wouldn't be surprised if it's that far from the truth. Now, onto another important matter, are you sure the Winchesters are there?" he asked, and Tyers rolled her eyes, he was thinking about them now?

One hundred and seventy seven people had just been slaughtered, this was a mass murder spree right in the middle of America, committed by people they knew nothing about for reasons they didn't know about and he was concerned about those two damn boys? What the hell was so important about them that he was more concerned about them than the slaughter of a chunk of an entire town?

"Yes sir, we believe they are here," she said patiently, though she had half a mind to go on strike until she got some answers, "they were certainly here last night during the battle, which figures, they turn up all over the place when there's weird crap going on."

Mueller made a noise of understanding.

"Listen to me very carefully Agent Tyers. I know that you are frustrated, and with the massacre, you have bigger things to be concerning yourself with. However, I will tell you this. If I get my hands on the Winchesters, if you capture them for me and bring them to me, then all of this, all the bizarre cases, the massacres, the deaths that don't make any sense, all of them will come to an end very swiftly after I get the Winchesters where I want them. However, that does mean I need them alive, both of them. But I assure you Agent Tyers, that when you bring them before me, all your unanswered questions will be settled once and for all. Find me the Winchesters, and everything like last night's massacre will stop, I promise you." He said certainly, and she looked at the phone, slightly impressed, though also slightly alarmed.

Just how did the Winchesters connect in with all of this, and why did Mueller think that getting his hands on them would help bring these murders to an end? Now she was certain of it, he had something up his sleeve, something he wasn't letting anyone else even get in the vicinity of guessing. And quite frankly, it was making her uneasy. He had something big planned and she knew nothing about it, but whatever the hell it was, the Winchesters were essential to it.

"I'll see if I can get a spare minute to try and find them sir." She promised, and he made a satisfied noise from the other end.

"I know you will Agent. Good hunting." He said before hanging up, leaving her to stare at her phone in disbelief.

Mueller was up to something. He somehow thought he had a way of ending all the bizarre cases that plagued America and believed that the Winchesters were necessary to achieving this goal. And that thought just made her all the more worried, because that meant he felt the current crisis caused by the massacre ought to take a back seat to finding the Winchesters.

She sighed in futility. What was really bothering her was the fact that she didn't know why or what he was doing. And she could certainly do with less weird cases. Not knowing everything rubbed her up the wrong way. But, she had a job to do and she would get it done.

"Alright, let's try and get some rest. Then we can pay the sheriff a visit at home, see if we can't run into the Winchesters. Because the director is right about one thing, the cases like this, they have to stop, and he reckons they're important to doing that, so that means we're going to double our efforts in finding them."

And as Grayson and Tomas nodded and she looked around the damaged interior of the police station, she couldn't help but think Mueller was right. Things like this, all these unexplained and unanswerable cases, they all needed to be stopped.

And if she could help end them by bringing in the Winchesters, then what's what she was going to do.

XX

"How is Niandra?" Seraphim asked as the two leading angels relaxed in his quarters, both of them with a glass of wine in their hand.

Ophanim frowned slightly.

"She's certainly been better. The fact that it was an accident is what's really bothering her I think, she didn't get much of a goodbye in any way. The funeral later will be most hard on her. After that is done, after she lays Veronica to rest, then she can start recovering from her loss." She said, and seraphim chuckled.

"It amazes me how compassionate and empathic you can be after all these years. You should force her back to work, the oracles and seers are in chaos without their leader." He said dismissively and she glared angrily at her partner.

"She isn't a robot Seraphim, she has feelings, feelings that are currently in a state. The oracles can manage without her, besides, their own grief is rather palpable as well. Grief is making them ineffective but that will pass. However, as the danger doesn't seem imminent, there is no sense in pushing the matter." She told him tartly and Seraphim grumbled.

"It irks me that we all must go to this funeral. I had no love for the girl." He sniffed, and she rolled her eyes.

"And yet we will all go anyway, for Niandra. Your personal feelings don't matter Seraphim, hers do." She told him, sipping her wine, and he nodded irritably.

"I suppose so. Will Veltas and Kerubiel be fit to join us?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Yes. Veltas is still weak though, he will need support. Kerubiel's arm is now maimed, it's crippled, but other than that he's fine and has recovered from his injuries. And if both of them can make the funeral you have no reason not to." She told him tartly, and he bowed his head in irritation.

"As you wish my dear. And Ember?"

"She is nearly finished in Brandon, she thinks she will be done by the time of the funeral. We don't need her anyway, Macey is keeping an eye on Niandra, and Zain is popping into see her frequently too, we don't need Ember to support Niandra but her presence will still be required." She elaborated and he nodded.

"Yes, if only to keep Lexii and I separate, she isn't happy with me." He commented idly, and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm not surprised. The Perpurigo is tense, Veronica's death isn't helping and you levelling baseless accusations against another member of the council is only exacerbating the situation. Stop antagonising her, it will only make matters worse." She scolded and he nodded dutifully.

"That is due to the unseen threat moving against us, which brings us back to the oracles, you are being too lax with them Ophanim." He said reprovingly, but she waved a hand in unconcern.

"No, I'm allowing them a respite from their grief." She said patiently, and he glowered.

"Alright, fine, coddle them if you must. But never forget, we are in danger, and without our seers, we are blind."

She could say nothing she hadn't already said, so simply nodded.

Seraphim sat back in his chair. Ophanim always had had a soft touch with them all, that was a strength and a failing. But at the moment, with the entire Perpurigo threatened, it was most definitely a failing.

So, he would go to this silly funeral, pay his respects to some silly girl who managed to die in the walls of the castle.

But then, he would turn his full attention to the threat that was moving against the Perpurigo and prevent it from destroying the entire institution.

XX

"I'm pursuing a line of enquiry Agent Tyers, I'm trying to find the last of the attackers who escaped, and I believe we're on to them." Marion told her curtly over the phone.

"Well if you wait, I'll bring reinforcements, we can't afford to lose you and sheriff Mills." Tyers pointed out, but he ignored her.

"Thank you agent Tyers." He said firmly, cutting her off before she could say anything else, earning him a concerned look from Marion.

"The boys aside, you might not want to alienate her, she might help save your career." She pointed out, and Marion scoffed, shaking his head.

"The only reason she would save my career is to get to this pair of miscreants here." He said fondly, pointing to Sam and Dean, making Dean turn back to give him a worried look.

"Yeah but I don't want you not taking her offer just for us, if she offers you help, take it then feed her false information or something, denounce us if it means you keep your job and if that's what she wants." He insisted, but Marion shook his head.

"Dean...I am a sheriff who has allowed two massacres to occur in my town in the last year. And the second one was vastly worse than the first. Overall, one hundred and eighty odd people have died under my care. I am a failure as a sheriff, and now I'm getting caught up in a game that's more politics than skill, which is a game that I'm frankly unwilling to play. Stop worrying about me boys, we'll see what happens here and then I'll figure out what my next move is." He assured them, but the boys still didn't look convinced, and neither did Jody, but seeing that Marion didn't want to talk about it, Dean turned to Sam.

"How we doing Sammy, any closer?" he asked, and Sam nodded, a grim smile on his face.

"Yeah actually. We've been following this trail of blood since the station, and guess where it's headed?" he asked, pointing, and Dean followed the line his brother's finer was making and groaned.

"The cemetery?" he asked in disbelief and Sam nodded grimly.

"Yeah, the one place we didn't think to look because we didn't think anyone would come through there. But once we get there it's going to be a pain in the ass to find where he went." He said irritably, and Jody was about to say something when movement caught her eye as she was looking around, trying to gauge how far the wounded soldier had come considering he had started from the police station just as they had.

"Crap. One of the FBI agents just left the station, if they look down here and see us with the boys, we're all for the high jump." She said nervously and Marion patted her shoulder soothingly.

"That's why we changed to plain clothes rather than our uniforms, but maybe we should get out of sight, come on, down here, if Sam's right and he did head to the cemetery we can go the long way round and pick up the trail there." He said, leading them down the alley.

But, back at the door to the station, Grayson smirked.

Yes, that had definitely been the two local sheriffs, and even better, they had been with the Winchesters. They were nearby and still in town, and that meant that the chase was nearly over.

She headed back inside to let Tyers know that their prey was right where they wanted them.

XX

"I reckon they saw us." Jody grumbled, readying her weapon as they edged through the mausoleum.

"Not much we can do about it if they did see us, all we can do is hope they aren't stupid enough to follow us." Sam said, pulling Mjolnir from his pack making Dean pout, which of course led to Sam grinning.

"Not fair, why do you get to keep the hammer?" he complained childishly, and Sam grinned mischievously.

"You get to keep the bazooka, you get the car, you have the pet angel, I don't get nearly so much and you begrudge me the cool hammer?" he asked, sticking his tongue out to wind Dean up which had the desired effect.

"Yes! I'm the big brother, I'm the one who's meant to get the good stuff!" he protested, and Jody, grinning evilly, bent close to Marion.

"Aside from the nice personality." She whispered and Marion gave an involuntary snort of laughter making both brothers look at them in confusion.

"What's so funny?" Dean asked, but both police officers shook their heads, trying not to laugh, while Jody winked at Sam.

"Alright, ignore them, rock paper scissors for the hammer!" Dean demanded, and Marion looked at him incredulously.

"You do realise we were almost killed not twelve hours ago? I know that's a fairly regular occurrence for you boys but I've gotten over the constant state of fear, and now, before yet another potentially deadly situation you're having a game of rock, paper scissors?" he demanded in disbelief, as Dean drew scissors and Sam drew a rock, making Sam grin infuriatingly.

"Is it really a game when he never wins?" he asked pointedly, making Dean pout.

"Alright, you two can get back to your childish squabble later, we have a job to do. Dean, if you even think of threatening your brother with that brick to get the hammer I'll brain you with it myself." Jody warned, spying Dean out of the corner of her eye and he spluttered, dropping the brick and affecting a partly innocent expression which deceived no one.

"As if I would, come on I was kidding!" he protested as Sam grinned.

"Maybe you should give it up big brother, I've clearly won." He teased as they moved through the graveyard and Dean shook his head stubbornly.

"Never." He said with a grin, before holding up a hand and stopping the group outside one of the larger mausoleums.

"Look, I reckon this is us, looks like he was leaning against the door when he was trying to get in." He theorised, readying the archangel blade and his gun while Sam got his gun and hammer ready and the others got the demon blade and another angel blade ready as they prepared to enter the grave.

"Let's end this then, if nothing else I owe it to everyone who died to at least bring the last soldier son of a bitch down." He grumbled, preparing himself, and Dean forced open the door with his shoulder, before beckoning the others into the mausoleum in his wake.

"It's quiet." Jody whispered as the door shut behind them, leaving a curious Tyers, Grayson and Tomas a few metres back, looking at them in confusion.

"And just what are they doing in there? Call it into the station, tell them we need reinforcements. We'll give the good sheriffs the benefit of the doubt and suggest that they're the hostages of the Winchesters, get the officers on side. Have them surround the building. This time they won't escape." She said excitedly, and as Tomas went off to make the arrangements, she and Grayson exchanged a delighted smile as she called Mueller.

"Sir, we have them."

XX

They entered the main room of the mausoleum, lit by glowing sconces on the walls. The room was bare aside from two large stone coffins on either side of the small group. In between them was the dead body of the final soldier who had escaped the battle, and Marion gave a sigh of finality.

"Well, at least he's dealt with. Small comfort though." He sighed, as Jody clapped his shoulder tenderly as two more sconces blazed to life, throwing a dais into sharp relief, illuminating the one who had been sitting on the large stone chair, a throne really, that had been placed there.

Sam looked apprehensively up at the woman who was sitting on the throne. Admittedly, she was beautiful. She had scarlet hair styled into a star like bun, she was clad in a sort of black armoured catsuit, with long heeled boots. Her nails were sharp and blood red, like her lips, while her eyes were marked with lilac eye shadow, contrasting with her piercing green eyes.

All Sam knew was one thing, that hot though she was, there was no good reason for her to be sitting like a queen in the tomb, especially with a gloating smile on her face, exactly like the one she had.

"Welcome." She purred as the four of them looked apprehensively at her, and Sam noted Dean's shocked expression and the fact that he seemed to be trying to shrink.

Dean rarely got scared of anything, and she hadn't done anything yet to make him fear her, so why was he frightened of her?

And then as he determinedly avoided her eyes, it abruptly clicked and he fought down a wave of exasperation. It wasn't this check he feared it was his little brother.

"Dean?" he asked sharply, making the others look at him curiously and Dean let out a low groan.

"Yeah?" he asked sheepishly.

"She's the girl you slept with isn't she?" he asked with a sigh and Dean nodded.

"Kind of." He admitted as the woman got to her feet and came down from the dais.

"If it's any consolation your brother was the best sex I've had in about a millennia." She assured Sam, and he closed his eyes, he really didn't need to know that.

"So Ember, how've you been? You didn't mention you were one of the people trying to kill us when we slept together." Dean challenged, making her smile indulgently.

"Of course I didn't, that would have spoiled my fun." She purred and Marion moved towards her, only to be stopped by Jody and Sam.

"Fun? Your goons killed over a hundred and fifty people, and you think that's fun?" he demanded angrily, wanting to rip her face off with his bare hands but the other two were stopping from getting any further.

She smiled at him in a predatory fashion as she stalked towards them.

"Yes, and also, very useful. You see, at long last, we are nearly done with everything. The deaths here were just housekeeping. And now that they're all dead, we are finally finished with this paltry little town. Well, we will be soon." She said, looking at Dean and the others with a hungry expression.

"You manipulated them." Jody growled in distaste and she laughed mockingly.

"You win the prize sheriff! Of course I manipulated them, I was behind it all from the start. Veltas was my willing servant, as were all the soldiers. I knew that you Marion would call for help when the body count started piling up, especially if we let you see that you were dealing with one of our soldiers. You would bring in the boys. Which means that the loose ends of Brandon would all be collected in one place and I could destroy them at my leisure. That was what last night was about, I intended to settle all my accounts, but you undid Veltas and Kerubiel, he was the angel before you ask, and undid my plans. But now, you've trotted into my lair like little lambs to slaughter. Actually, you're even more brainless than lambs, they at least have the sense to know a trap when they see it. You've played to my tune all this time, and now, I can destroy you once and for all." She said smugly, raising her hand to finish them off once and for all, and Jody and Marion looked at each other in alarm before Sam interrupted her.

"Hey! If you're going to kill us, could you at least answer some questions, because quite frankly, not knowing anything about you lot is pissing us off." He asked hopefully and Ember shrugged.

"I don't see why not I suppose." She mused, after all, she did enjoy playing with her food.

"Well why sleep with me?" Dean demanded, and she smirked slightly.

"Several reasons but none of them as part of some insidious end. Well not really. You see, it's been a while since I'd gotten laid and here you were, ready for my sexual consumption. And considering what I have planned, I needed to get to know every little bit of you, and now I do. Besides, there's the added benefit it would mess with your head when you realise you bedded another bad guy." She said in cold delight, and Dean glowered.

"Smart assed bitch. Alright then, who the hell are these guys, and why are they attacking us? Why are you attacking us?" he demanded, clearly just stalling for time, but Ember didn't mind after all she had all the cards and they were all right where she wanted them, and there was no escape from her now.

"You have been dealing with the Perpurigo, an ancient group created in order to check the excesses of heaven and hell. As such, we are the guardians of the natural order of the universe, maintaining balance and ensuring the world keeps spinning the way it ought to." She explained, and Sam scoffed, decidedly unimpressed.

"Well hate to tell you this but you kind of dropped the ball. A lot." He sneered, and she narrowed her eyes, her face affecting a cool expression.

"Admittedly, we could have done better. By the time our intelligence agents realised that Michael and his cronies were all but in cahoots with Azazel and plotting the Apocalypse, it was too late. Just before your deal came due Dean, Michael and Raphael moved against us and imprisoned us within our realm, and we were then laid siege to for the better part of a year before we started breaking out, and believe me, we were trying for a very long time before that. Ever since then, we've been trying our hardest to undo the damage caused by the aborted Apocalypses and the rise of Eve and her snot nosed children the Leviathans. However, we are now finally taking command of the situation, and this is one of the last stops on the tour. And once you boys are dead, I'm fairly confident we can call time on the entire affair." She said in anticipation, and Marion glowered at her.

"So you're nothing more than a bunch of murderous cleaners. That doesn't explain him though does it?" he challenged and she hissed in annoyance.

"Mind your tongue human. We are much more than that, we are the caretakers of heaven, hell and earth, the guardians of the natural order, and as you may have gathered already we are not to be trifled with. As to him, he is a commander of our army, one of the Ancilla., who make up the vast majority of our troops. Your little victory last night didn't even dent our numbers, for they are legion. You see now, you are no match for us. Pure luck has gotten you this far, luck that has now run out." She hissed in cold delight, and Dean sighed irritably.

"Alright so you have your army, and we know your name. Care to explain that Veltas dude?" he demanded and she cackled.

"Yes, I bet that was your first contact with a blue eyed demon. Fortunately for you, they are fairly rare. Their duties usually keep them in hell. You could call them the secret service of hell, the intelligence agents, proficient in assassinations and torture, along with espionage and sabotage. Very handy beings to have on your side, as Veltas clearly proved by all but destroying you. You got lucky, but I suppose that means there's more fun for me to have." She said, and Sam, his curiosity now mostly sated, glared at her.

"Alright, so what are you then? Angel, demon, Leviathan, some as yet unknown pain in the ass?" he asked and she gave a dark, low chuckle.

"I forgot, how rude of me." She purred, and her eyes suddenly went pure yellow.

Marion and Jody recoiled in shock, a yellow eyed demon was new on them. Their reaction was a lot different from that of the boys however. Sam's jaw dropped in surprise, and he took several shocked steps back as the demonic leader of the Perpurigo revealed her true form. And, years of instinct kicking in once again, Dean shoved Sam behind him protectively to defend him from the yellow eyed demon so akin to the one that had thrown their life down the gutter in the first place.

"A yellow eyes..." Sam said in disbelief and Ember nodded.

"Yes Sam, a yellow eyes. I imagine it's been a while since you dealt with one of me." She gloated, and Dean, the initial shock over, shrugged carelessly.

"Not really, Crowley was a yellow eyes." He said dismissively and her eyes flashed in anger, barely constraining her temper as she seriously considered destroying him on the spot.

"Um yeah but now he's a red eyes again." Sam pointed out, and Ember seemed to be soothed by his words for some reason.

"Crowley is not a true yellow eyes demon. When he was the outright king of hell, because he had the support of the various overlords of hell but not the level of power of one, he was conferred with the title of a yellow eyes demon and was powerful enough to hold it. However, as he started as a paltry crossroads demon, he couldn't become a white eyed demon. And after he lost the throne last year, when we were all trying to prevent Raphael from creating a second Apocalypse, he created too many factions in hell, meaning a large part of his power was diminished hence why he has gone back to his red eyes. Now boys, I think that we've chatted enough, because all of this means nothing as I'm going to destroy you." She purred, and Dean grinned savagely.

"Really?" he challenged, and as Marion and Jody opened fire with their guns, he and Sam lunged forward with their weapons, Dean plunging the archangel blade into her gut while Sam slammed his hammer into her chin.

With a defeated, screaming snarl, Ember was sent spinning through the air, twirling many times before she slammed into the back wall, her body dropping to the ground and staying there unmoving.

"Well, that wasn't so hard. Burn in hell bitch." Marion snarled, and the four of them turned to leave.

"Dean, that was way too easy." Sam whispered, and then they heard a cackle of mocking laughter.

"I hate it when you're right." He complained, and the four of them turned to see Ember, coughing up blood, smirking at them as she got back to her feet, coughing slightly.

"Nice try. Now, my turn." She snarled, her yellow eyes flashing and with a single gesture she threw all four of them over the room, slamming them into the wall with a horrible crunch. As the four dropped down, wheezing, the demon crossed the room, standing right over Dean.

"I've been looking forward to this." She hissed in delight and seized him up by the hair before throwing him in a dizzying spiral across the room.

Sam dove for his hammer while Jody and Marion opened fire, firing at her desperately, but she simply flipped backwards, landing on her hand before coming back to her feet. Laughing at the mockingly, she gestured with a finger at Marion, who yelled in pain as his arm was broken clean in two. She then splayed her hand out, making Marion scream all the louder as his entire body was stretched far beyond its normal constraints.

Beside him, Sam and Jody had gotten to their feet and charged at the demon, Jody wielding both an angel and the demon blade while Sam brought his hammer to bear. Ember kicked out, catching Jody right in the stomach, making her wheeze and double over in pain. Spiralling out of the way of Sam's attack, Ember kicked Jody hard in the chin, sending her up into the ceiling with a surprised scream, crashing into the ceiling and dislodging a cascade of dust and rubble that plummeted all around her.

As Jody fell back to the ground, Ember was already on the move, slashing at Sam's face with her long fingernails. Reeling back to avoid the attack, he was completely unprepared for her next move which he felt like a hammer blow of his own as she sent a powerful force slamming into his ribs. Sam cried out in pain as the invisible blast drilled into his ribs, landing gasping for air on his back.

"Hey, hell bitch!" Dean snarled, stabbing up at her with the archangel blade which he had somehow recovered.

Ember span out of the way, both hands and both legs catching Dean as she did so, sending him to the ground, where she kicked him in the mouth. As Dean spat up blood, she threw him over the room, driving his body into the wall viciously, a savage smile on her face as she did so.

"Silly little hunters." She snarled as Marion fired his gun at her with his remaining good arm.

Ember snarled in irritation, before throwing Dean towards Marion as she made a dive for cover.

Dean clambered to his feet, he and Sam giving each other grim nods before they headed to attack Ember. Both boys rushed her but the powerful demon was far too old and wise for that. She simply stepped out of their way before grabbing both boy by their head and slamming their skulls together. As both boys stumbled backwards, heads pounding, she was suddenly on them. Her legs came out of nowhere, punishing both boys mercilessly as she delivered numerous blows to their chests and stomachs. She then delivered a further painful psychic blow to them both, knocking them for six and it was then that she moved in for the kill.

Punching Dean in the jaw, the elder brother slammed to the ground, groaning in pain as she turned to Sam. Her boot dug right into his stomach, and as he wheezed and bent over double, she crashed her fist into his jaw. As his head reeled back, she caught his hair in her iron grip and slammed his head into the wall, Sam groaning in pain as she did so, before she twirled him away from her, using his hair as her grip which sent him spinning into the wall, which he crashed into with a dull thud. Cackling madly, she then gestured viciously, driving him into the wall, his head crashing into the concrete and Dean called his brother's name was he too fell in a cascade of rubble as he dropped to the floor, stirring feebly.

Ember gave Dean a gloating smile as she turned to face him, flexing her fingers maliciously. For good measure, she flicked her finger at Marion who had been about to shoot her again and he screamed as his other arm also snapped in two, and with a nasty smile, she flicked a finger at him, sending his false leg over the room with a clatter.

"You see, when you boys fought my dear cousin Azazel, you never gave him a chance to show everything he could really do. Such as this Jody." She said, looking to Jody who was just starting to pick herself up and Jody started coughing violently, blood gushing from her mouth as she did so.

"Let her go!" Marion demanded in a strong voice, which Dean found quite impressive despite the pain he was in.

And then Dean blanched in fear as she suddenly vanished from right in front of him and appeared instantly beside an astounded Marion. She gave a sadistic laugh and plunged her sharp nails into his chest making Marion cry out in even more pain and she raised him above her, his single broken leg dangling uselessly as she kept him in place with her nails, Dean still turning to face her in shock, and with an evil cackle, Marion started to scream as it felt like his insides were being set alight. She then threw her latest victim from her hand, looked at a convulsing and bleeding Jody, and both cops were blasted across the room, slamming hard into the wall, where Jody remained bleeding and Marion hung convulsing as they were pinned in place.

Ember then appeared right beside Dean who only had time to give her a surprised look before her hand clutched his head. She then swung him furiously over her shoulder, crashing him into the ground like she would a club. Dean gave a weak groan as she kicked him in a tumbling roll across the room before she reappeared right beside him once again. She shoved him up into the air, threw him upwards slightly to catch him by the ankle, and then swung him into the ceiling. She then slammed him back to the ground before spinning a screaming Dean around by his ankle and letting him go so he shot over the room and landed beside a defeated but stirring Sam.

"Ahh I've waited so long for that. I can't tell you how happy it," she snarled, kicking Sam in the head, "makes," she continued, kicking Dean in the head this time, "me," going back to Sam, "to," and she once again kicked Dean hard in the head, "to finally be the one to destroy you." She purred, kicking them with every word, both brothers a beaten, bloody mess.

She then glared down at them both, both boys convulsing as she harmed their insides too, making both of them start coughing up blood, and blood started to pour like tears from Sam's eyes while Dean's nose started to bleed, Ember standing above them triumphantly.

"And as you two have been such thorns in my side, I think it would be best if I were to make you suffer each blow you've dealt us by breaking a bone for each slight." She snarled, and with a gesture, she all but shattered the skeletons of both boys.

As all four of her victims screamed in pain, she settled herself down onto one of the intact tombs as Dean tried valiantly to move himself closer to his screaming brother.

"And now we end this. I must thank you for killing my cousin, he only ever caused trouble. But your stay of execution is now ended. Shall we show Sam exactly what I learned when I slept with you Dean? Where everything is? How about we take both boys for a trip down memory lane?" she asked, and looked to the ceiling, Dean promptly slamming into it a second later, grunting as he did so.

"Let him go." Sam pleaded, hating the pained cries coming from Marion and Jody as Dean struggled against her invisible grip.

"I don't think so dear Sam. You see, this is why I wanted to sleep with Dean and not you. He would appreciate what I'm about to do," she told him, stroking his cheek in a sickeningly fond way, "but you, you're the one who will really get what's going on here."

"What the hell is she talking about?" Dean demanded and Ember smiled up at him, ignoring the screams of Jody and Marion and enjoying the scared puppy dog look Sam was giving Dean as he tried to do something but hurt and wounded as he was, he was stuck there.

"I'm paying homage to my dear cousin Azazel. True I despised the bastard and you did us all a favour by whacking him but I won't have it said that he, one of only three true yellow eyes in existence, he killed the other one millennia ago to take power in hell, didn't have a damn good imagination." She crowed, and raised a single finger, and pointed it towards Dean.

And it was in that moment that Sam realised what she was going to do.

She then waved her finger sharply in the air, and Dean cried out in pain as a long thin bloody slash opened in his stomach. Dean's eyes widened in realisation as he too suddenly realised what she was going to do to him.

"Please, don't do it, no, leave him alone!" Sam begged weakly but Ember just smirked smugly and used her powers to pin Sam in place, and he realised he was going to be unable to do anything as he watched his brother die, just like the first time.

And with Jody and Marion also trapped by Ember's powers, Sam realised this truly was the end.

"Now how did it go? Oh yes, that's how." She hissed in cold delight, her eyes widening in cruel delight.

And Dean began to scream as burning fire surrounded him, torching his body. Sam started screaming desperately for his brother, he was going to watch Dean die the same way his mother and Jess had died, and he was going to be powerless to stop it, Ember's evil cackling laughter would be forever imprinted on his mind as he watched Dean screaming in terrible pain on the ceiling, fire surrounding him and soon to immolate him entirely.

They were out of options. This was it, this was the end, Dean was about to die, and then they would all be next. There was nothing Sam could do, he couldn't shout Ember to death.

But he could shout for someone who could deal with her.

"CAS!" he screamed, pouring all his fear, panic and desperation into the cry as Dean's body caught fire, his torso, arms and legs burning as a steady trickle of blood poured from his wound, Dean screeching in pain.

There was then a rustle behind Sam, and Ember turned to face the newcomer in surprise. However, distracted as she was by Cas, she lost her grip on Dean and he plummeted to the ground with a thud.

"Ugh..." Dean grunted and Ember looked slightly sheepish.

"Oops." She mumbled, before turning with a triumphant grin towards Castiel, who bent down to check on Sam.

"Never mind me, get to Dean." He ordered the trench coated angel, who stood up and glared at Ember.

"Castiel." She purred triumphantly, a big smile on her face as she beheld the angel, and Cas glared at her in disgust.

"Ember." He sneered in distaste as Sam dragged himself across the floor to Dean's side, where his brother was gasping for breath.

"It's been a while hasn't it? The last time I saw you, you were helping Aeneas away from Troy after the Greeks sacked the city. Imagine how jealous Seraphim, Ophanim and Kerubiel will be when they realise that I've encountered and killed you, your very existence drives them completely round the twist." She purred in malicious delight as Sam reached Dean's side.

"Dean, Dean..." he begged.

His brother was a mess. His clothes were largely burnt into his body, his skin red and black from the effect of the fire. His eyes were glassy, his breathing shallow. His hair had largely been burnt off his head, his face was a grizzled mass of burn scars and he didn't seem aware of Sam's presence, even when Sam gently took his hand and gave it a slight squeeze. The fact that Sam squeezed recently burned scar tissue and Dean didn't even react wasn't good at all.

"I thought you were dead. Why have you attacked the Winchesters?" he demanded, and she smiled widely, showing all of her teeth.

"Because I could my dear Castiel. I gave Dean there a little taste of what his mother and Sam's beloved Jess went through. Only problem is you interrupted me before I finished the damn job. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have four thorns in my side to deal with and then I'll get to you." She assured him, and Cas readied himself for battle.

"You overstretch yourself demon, we both know I won't allow you to cause any further harm to the Winchesters. And that I can smite you as soon as look at you." He vowed darkly, and she smirked playfully.

"You certainly could...if you were at full strength, which you aren't. Your power is greatly diminished Castiel, quite enough for me to dispose of you in my own festive way." She assured him, and Cas was about to respond when a voice blared over a loudspeaker from outside.

"Sam and Dean Winchester, this is Agent Tyers of the FBI! The building is surrounded and there is no escape! Come out with your hands up, and release the sheriffs into our custody and this needn't get violent!" Tyers boomed from outside and Sam shot a worried, incredulous look outside.

They were trapped in here, where an underpowered angel and an overpowered demon were about to go at it, Jody and Marion had both lapsed into painful unconsciousness and were of no good to anyone, he himself couldn't fight, and Dean's breath was becoming all the more laboured as he struggled to hold on. If it wasn't for Ember, Sam might have considered surrendering to Tyers if only to make sure that Dean lived, but in this state, if by some miracle he let Tyers know he agreed, they would come in and walk right into Ember's claws.

They were screwed.

"Idiots, they spoiled my punchline." Ember tutted, and turned to face a determined Cas, who was sending an extremely worried look at Dean, one that Sam shared, and as their eyes met, Cas gave a tiny shake of his head, and Sam's heart dropped like a stone.

He could either fight Ember, or he could save Dean. He couldn't do both. And if Dean died, he couldn't resurrect him.

"Respond at once!" Tyers called from outside, and Ember smirked.

"I'll deal with them in a minute. Now Castiel, shall we dance?" she enquired with dark excitement, and she then gestured, blasting Cas over the room before the angel even had a chance of defending himself.

"Dean, hold on." Sam begged his fading brother as Cas disappeared from Ember's view, appearing right behind her and raising his hand to smite her.

The demon was much too wise for that, turning and catching his arm in her own. She then snapped his arm effortlessly, before kicking him in the jaw with her long legs and following up with a sharp kick to the chest which sent Cas rolling to the floor. Cas grimaced in pain as he slid to a stop beside Dean and Sam, and raised his hand to try and fix them, but Ember gave an angry snarl and gestured, blowing the angel away from them before he could do anything to fix them, laughing as she did so.

Cas crashed into the wall, and as he stumbled to his feet, he revealed an angel blade from his sleeve and vanished from where he was standing. Ember allowed herself a low chuckle and gestured to the sword that Jody had dropped, the sword leaping into her hand.

"Dean, please, stay alive." Sam begged, realising that by bringing Cas here, he may very well have gotten him killed too.

Cas then appeared right in front of Ember, stabbing for her gut with the angel sword he wielded. Ember gave a smug, gloating laugh and blocked the vicious slash, and then the two went at it, both blades banging against each other as a weakened Cas duelled a still fairly fresh Ember.

"You are an abomination demon." Cas swore, and she smirked.

"You have no idea how right you are." She whispered to him, and he looked at her in confusion before she took his legs out from under him.

Swinging the blade down, Cas barely blocked her vicious attack before rolling to his feet, Ember pushing her advantage. She blasted him backwards with a gesture, then sent a storm of rubble flying towards the angel. Cas screamed in pain as the storm punctured right into him, the demon following right behind it, eyes flashing and Cas screamed as his body was also immolated by fire. Ember then took a hold of his front and slammed him into the wall, and started hammering blows onto his still burning body. She crashed him hard into the wall before pummelling him into the ground, beating him mercilessly, and while it did allow the fire to die out, Cas was being thrashed within an inch of his life.

"Imagine how jealous the angels will be of me when I end you. You're a pathetic, weak excuse for an angel." She snarled, and Cas looked blearily at her, blood running from his nose and his mouth while his eyes were black and blue.

"Not that weak." He snarled, blasting her off of him.

Ember gave an enraged snarl as she was blown off the weak angel, slamming into the ceiling and gouging a deep gash into the ceiling. She dropped catlike to the ground, but before she could make another move, Cas appeared right in front of her, slamming his fist into her chin, knocking her into the wall above Jody and Marion.

She snarled in fury, igniting Cas again and springing right at him, her fist slamming a psychic blow into his chest, blowing the angel into the ground. Before he could react, she dragged him up again and began beating the hell out of him once again.

"This ends now." She snarled with a final punch, leaving the weakened angel reeling on the ground, gasping for breath.

"Cas!" Sam cried, watching as Ember prepared to finish the angel.

And then a weak Dean gave a rasping, shuddering breath, and Sam looked at him in alarm as his brother stopped breathing.

"No, Dean!" he screamed, trying to get his brother to respond, Ember's mocking laughter ringing in his ears.

"Goodbye Castiel!" she screeched triumphantly, her angel blade glinting as she prepared to plunge it into his neck, the weak angel unable to escape.

And there was then a rustle, distracting Ember. She turned to see that Marion and Jody had both vanished completely.

"How the hell did you do that?" she demanded in disbelief, as Dean and Sam both vanished as well, leaving Ember alone with Cas.

Cas looked at where the boys had vanished in amazement, then allowed himself a small smile as Ember looked at him in shocked disbelief, the boys had vanished, right when she had been about to claim victory.

"That's impossible, how did you do it?" she snarled furiously.

"I didn't." He said cockily, before blasting Ember into the air and disappearing himself.

The demon slammed back to the earth, looking around, as if desperate to launch herself at any potential victim, but they had all escaped, there was none to be had.

She had been so close, the angel had distracted her, she could have killed them all, but Cas had interfered and now they were gone! They had escaped!

"Sam and Dean, this is your last warning, come out now with your hands up!" Tyers shouted, and Ember, upon hearing their names, snarled furiously.

A snarl that was building and building, and then she let out a furious scream that made the entire building shake, and an explosion of fire then shook the room, turning the entire mausoleum into a raging inferno.

Breathing like a winded bull, Ember gave the room one last examination before she vanished abandoning the battle front where she had very nearly assured her greatest victory.

XX

Tyers, Grayson and Tomas, combined with the remnants of Brandon's police force, watched in shock as the fireball erupted out of the mausoleum, surrounding the entire building in flames.

"Sheriff!" Candi cried in disbelief, she couldn't believe that he was gone, nothing could have survived that inferno.

"What the hell was in there that could do that?" Grayson asked suspiciously and Tyers shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine. The question we need to ask ourselves is, are the Winchesters really dead?" she asked as she gazed into the raging fire.

Because in her heart, she already knew the truth.

They were both still alive.

XX

"Dean!" Sam begged, relaxing ever so slightly as Dean gave a weak breath and Marion and Jody stirred feebly in Marion's sitting room which was where they had been sent.

There was then a rustle as a worse for wear Cas appeared, dropping the weapons and Marion's false leg to the floor. He then gestured at Dean, and with a deep breath, Dean was returned to normal.

"Dean!" Sam exclaimed, hugging him fiercely, not even noticing as Cas healed him too and moved on to the other two.

"I'm ok Sammy, I'm ok." Dean soothed, returning the hug, stroking his brother's long hair soothingly.

"Ow, did we all get out of there in one piece?" Jody asked as Cas healed her as well.

"Well, in my case two pieces, but we're alive at least." Marion said, cursing as he tried to fix his false leg back on, taking a sip of the bottle of whisky, remarkably undamaged, that was inside before passing it among the group, while Cas, who had healed him, slumped to the floor tiredly beside him.

"Thanks Cas, we owe you one." Sam said in relief, finally splitting from his brother, and Dean nodded.

"Yeah, you saved our asses dude, thanks."

Cas looked at them, and once again it felt like all was well between the three of them, however, despite that, there was still the fact that the last time they had seen Cas he had killed poor Samandiriel in cold blood and had been acting very strangely, enough to make the boys on edge.

"You look like crap friend. Here, have a drink." Marion offered, and to their surprise, Cas accepted the whisky and downed the rest of the bottle in one go, much to Marion's shock and displeasure.

"Hey!" he protested, and Cas pointed at the bottle, and it was instantly full again.

"I want to be able to do that!" Dean and Marion whined in unison, making Sam and Jody roll their eyes as he helped her back to her feet and Dean helped Marion with his leg.

"I wish I could take the credit Dean, but all I did was distract Ember and heal you." Cas said, getting back to his feet, wincing gingerly as he did so, and Sam looked at him in disbelief.

"You do realise you got us out of there?" he asked, but to his surprise, Cas shook his head.

"I didn't Sam. Whoever did that, it wasn't me. Someone else got you all out of there." He explained, and Dean and Sam exchanged significant, slightly worried looks.

Once again they had been rescued in mysterious circumstances, and while that ought to be a good thing, their long years of being used and abused by both heaven and hell had left them very suspicious and cynical of anything that seemed to be a good thing.

Jody sighed wearily.

"Alright, let's just take stock. We all got out of there, we're alive, and since she didn't expect us to get away, we now know more about these guys which means we might be able to find out how to stop them." She reasoned, and they had to admit, that was a pretty good silver lining.

"Yeah, but I'm in no hurry to fight that crazy hell bitch again." Dean said, rubbing himself self consciously, as Sam nodded his fervent agreement.

"Too true. And now, we have the added problem that Tyers was right outside, so if Ember was pissed, they could already be dead, which means we're going to get slammed with more trouble, or they're alive and will be on us soon enough and even more suspicious because this pair are still alive." He pointed to Jody and Marion to emphasise his point, and Marion frowned, then grinned at Cas.

"I know you're pretty beat up, but is there any way you can get me and Jody to the station before Tyers gets back?" he asked, and a weak Cas nodded sleepily.

"Yes." He said, and sent both of them to the police station, leaving himself alone with Sam and Dean.

"You ok Cas?" Dean asked, partly concerned and partly suspicious.

"I'll be fine Dean." He assured him, before vanishing into thin air.

"Goodbye to you too." Sam muttered, slightly irked by him vanishing like that, he was still wounded after all.

"He's still not right is he?" Dean asked, before collapsing wearily into a seat, and Sam did the same, landing right beside his big brother.

"No he isn't. But what about you, are you ok?" he asked softly, and rather than the usually abrasive response he would get to such a loaded question, Dean just looked out of the window into the garden quietly.

"I don't know Sammy. Ask me again in a few days." He said softly, his voice quiet and pained, making Sam frown worriedly. He had to take his brother's mind off his near incineration.

"Jody's right about one thing though, we know more now. We might be able to get stuff on how to stop them." He told his brother, and Dean nodded, before turning back with haunted eyes to face Sam.

"Yeah. Except our weapons didn't work on Ember, who slept with me just to mess with our heads by the way, which means that even if we find out everything else about the Perpurigo, that bitch is still going to be there, waiting to finish the job." He said despondently, and as he turned away, he left Sam sitting there, feeling as crappy as Dean looked.

But despite that, he knew Dean had to feel about ten times worse.

XX

Ember appeared in the lobby of the castle, just as Seraphim was heading to the courtyard.

"Ah, Ember, you've returned triumphant I trust?" he asked her as he saw her.

She simply snarled and swept past him, furious, and Seraphim permitted himself a small smile.

Apparently not.

XX

Tyers entered the police station, and then drew up short. Sheriff Martin was sitting behind his desk, looking indifferent to her shocked expression.

"Agent Tyers, welcome back." He said mildly, putting his signature on something in front of him, oblivious to the miserable looks of his officers.

"How did you?" she asked in confusion, but then shook her head, this really wasn't the time to try and figure this out, anyone who was linked with the Winchesters frequently did weird things.

"For you." He said, handing her the letter, and she quickly scanned it, shaking her head as she did so.

"You can't resign." She told him sternly and he gave her a sad sigh.

"Agent, everyone from the President on down has heard of the massacre here. Everyone from the mayor on up will be looking for someone to blame. Two massacres have happened in this town on my watch. That means it will be me who gets the blame, and rightly so. I failed this town." He said grimly, and she shook her head.

"You had no way of knowing what would happen, of stopping the massacres, you have to reconsider!" she urged, after all, he was a solid link to the Winchesters, she needed him to stay where he was.

"My time is done Agent. I'm just sorry that I couldn't protect the town the way I should have been able to. So, before a massive media storm gets started and this becomes a witch hunt that would ruin even more lives, I'll resign and leave the station. It's for the best, don't you think?" he asked sadly, and moved off to shake hands with his officers, all of whom were looking at him miserably in the ruins of their station.

Tyers glared at the letter in her hand. The Winchesters had escaped her, and if Marion was alive, that meant they had to be alive too. And now, one of her few static links to her prey was walking out the door. She snarled in frustration, and barely resisted the temptation to crush the letter in her hand.

Back to the old drawing board.

XX

"So you're sure they're still alive?" Mueller asked, and she gave her assent.

"Yes sir, as the sheriff survived, and sheriff Mills also survived, I can only assume that the Winchesters are still alive, and are once more in the wind." She snarled in frustration, and despite his own frustration, he allowed himself a small smile.

"You came close this time agent. Don't worry, there will be another time to catch up to the Winchesters. Yet I suspect something else is troubling you." He challenged, and she sighed wearily.

"Yes sir. I just don't get it, we saw them all go into the mausoleum before it went up, but they all escaped and I just don't know how!" she stormed, and he adopted a soothing tone of voice.

"All will become clear eventually Agent. And when you bring me the Winchesters, I assure you, stuff like this will no longer be a consideration to any of us." He promised her, as he looked at the long thin case on his desk, caressing the box lovingly.

XX

The voice had been quiet, and now, for some reason it was pained. But the voice did promise that it would soon have what it sought. Soon now, it would be free, and once all was said and done, he would be sated, free, and a new world would be born.

All that it took was patience.

XX

Ophanim, Ember and Lexii led a weeping Niandra away as the fire claimed Veronica's body, leaving the rest of the Perpurigo standing around the pyre, their faces dark and grim.

"You take a nice long rest now child." Ophanim said to Niandra as they settled her into her quarters.

"And take however long you need to get back to work, there's no rush." Lexii assured her while Ember prepared the sleeping draught that Isla had made for her.

"But the threat..." Niandra protested, but Ember shook her head.

"Our other oracles will suffice for now, you said yourself that your seeing has been affected by your grief anyway. Here my dear, take this." She said in a soothing voice, and after wrinkling her nose, Niandra drained the draught, her face still devastated, her soul rendered by the loss of Veronica.

"Sleep well child." Ophanim said fondly, leading the other two women out of the room as Niandra fell into sleep.

XX

He was wounded now. But he wouldn't let that affect him. He would get better despite his disability, and the first stones had already been cast. The Perpurigo would be remade, this time in his image. His plan would proceed despite his injury.

Seraphim's rule was over.

It was time for Kerubiel to lead the Perpurigo.

XX

Poor sad Kerubiel actually thought he was in charge, that all the ideas he'd had where his. He was just a puppet on a string, who would serve the purpose of his master first to further his master's own ends, and then act as a distraction while his master moved the final pieces into place.

But, the position of both Kerubiel and his master were threatened. Now that Veronica had been laid to rest, Niandra would start seeing again. And due to her bond with Veronica, anyone and anything closely linked to her death was in danger of discovery.

Which meant Kerubiel and his puppet master.

And so with a heavy heart, he closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

It was time for Niandra to die.

XX

Kerubiel and his master thought they were being discreet. Truth be told they were, but the third of the treacherous Perpurigo members had identified what they were up to. Well not what they were up to, but they knew they were up to something.

And that meant plans had to be made.

Delphus would be a natural ally. In fact, he was the only one that would suit, after all, angels are dicks, demons are untrustworthy and reapers are too much of a wild card.

It was time to begin preparations for that which they had waited for millennia.

XX

Hands gripped her viciously, and she tried to startle herself awake. Part of her knew this shouldn't be happening, the draught was meant to stop her dreaming. No, this wasn't a dream, this was a vision! She was trapped in a vision!

The hands forced her over the bed, roughly pinning her, and then she could feel him insert himself into her. She tried to scream, she tried to call out, but she couldn't. She was trapped inside her own head, inside her own vision, she couldn't escape!

Darkness surrounded her as her attacker kept going, beating her and molesting her, raping her hard and brutally. No, this couldn't be happening!

Darkness was all around her, pain filled everyone of her senses, he then clamped his hand round her throat, and as he continued to beat and pummel her, keeping up her rape all the way through, she finally glimpsed the face of the true threat to the Perpurigo.

She had to escape, she had to warn them, warn them all!

But it was not to be. He squeezed hard and brutally, weakening her and he continued to beat her mercilessly, and as she wriggled, her slammed her head time and again against the wall as he beat and raped her, smothering her and pounding into her mercilessly.

And sometime during the long, drawn out experience, the darkness encroached on Niandra, and her last sensation of feeling was his violent rape and murder of her, all of which was happening in her mind.

Which meant he was going to get away with everything and destroy the Perpurigo.

Her last thoughts were of the group she had failed, and of being reunited with Veronica.

XX

"As even Ember has now failed, it's quite clear that the direct approach to dealing with the Winchesters doesn't work." Macey said irritably, to general nods of agreement.

"We've all tried in some way to deal with them, and been found wanting. We can't afford to keep this up, we've wasted too much time and too many resources dealing with all this as it is, we have other matters to attend to, not the least of which is trying to discern this invisible enemy of ours." Kerubiel reasoned, and Lexii nodded.

"Exactly. We have other matters to attend to other than dealing with those homosexual nightmares. So I propose a different approach." She said, and Seraphim raised an eyebrow as they all turned to look at her.

"What exactly do you propose?" Akpach asked curiously, and she smirked.

"All of us have friends dotted about the place. Why not use them? We've all got various friends and minions who aren't part of the Perpurigo that we can call upon. Let's use them, use our intermediaries to kill the Winchesters while we focus on other matters." She said silkily to general nods of agreement.

"Yes, that isn't a bad idea actually. Let's do that." Ember said in agreement, and Zain smiled.

"Yeah, I can think of plenty people we can call on. Let them deal with those brats, they're hunters after all." He said, and Kerubiel gave them all a dark grin.

"In fact I have the perfect agent in mind." He said with dark excitement, and Seraphim nodded.

"Excellent, make it so. Then, I think we are done here." He said, about to dismiss the meeting when Ophanim barged in, her face ashen, her entire body shaking.

"Ophanim?" Seraphim asked in concern, getting to his feet and she looked around the chamber worriedly.

"I just went to check on Niandra. She's dead." She whispered fearfully, and the entire council exchanged dark fearful looks as the implication hit them.

The Perpurigo wasn't safe anymore.

XX

"I'm really sorry Marion, this is all our fault." Dean said, but he waved a hand dismissively.

"Nonsense son, I asked you here, none of us could have guessed how much of a shit storm it would cause. This is nothing to do with you boys ok? So don't you go feeling guilty." He warned, shaking his finger, and didn't lower it until both boys nodded reluctantly.

"Are you alright Dean?" Jody asked in concern, and Dean shrugged.

"Yeah." He said, his conviction not quite reaching his eyes, making both Jody and Marion to send significant glances towards a worried Sam.

"So what are you going to do?" Sam asked, and Marion shrugged.

"I don't know actually, all my life I've always had a job to do. It feels weird to be without one." He mused, and Dean grinned at Sam.

"Well, we can't give you a decent or well paying job, but we can give you this." He said, passing Marion a newspaper and Marion chuckled as he read the stuff Sam had highlighted.

"You two are giving me a case?" he asked in disbelief and Sam shrugged.

"Well why not? You said yourself you'd been learning and it seems fairly simple, it will give you a job to do for a while too. And quite frankly, we can't be bothered going all the way to Nevada." He said brightly and Marion chuckled.

"Then that's what I'll do. Now, don't you boys go blaming yourselves for me alright? This is my doing, not yours. And stay out of trouble. And away from Tyers alright?" he asked sternly, and both boys nodded.

"Yeah, got it. Keep in touch Marion, let us know when you've ganked the ghost." Dean said, and Marion nodded.

"Will do. See you later lads, watch out for yourselves." He said, shaking their hands and giving them a brief one armed hug each before turning to Jody.

"You better not get as bad as these boys, you better visit me when you get back to South Dakota. And let me know how you're doing." She told him sternly, and he nodded.

"First thing on the list. Besides, I still live here even if I don't work here anymore. Don't worry about me Jody, I'll be fine. Just watch yourself, with me gone, Tyers will be keeping an eye on you too." He warned and she nodded grimly.

"I know she will. I wish this was a better ending for you Marion, you don't deserve this." She complained, but he waved her off.

"It is what it is Jody I'm fine. I swear. And now, I've got a spook waiting for me. My first real hunt, I'm quite excited. Sad bastard that I am. So, see you guys around." He said, and clambered into his car before driving off, leaving the three who remained feeling slightly down.

"I have to get home too, the Perpurigo, was that their name? Well their little stunt is going to cause me months if not years of paperwork so I better get home and get started. It was good to see you boys. Be careful, and keep in touch or god help you I'll come after you." She warned, hugging Dean before giving Sam a slightly longer hug.

"Yes ma'am, got it." Dean assured her and she gave them both a fond wave before driving off, to her station where Tyers would undoubtedly be keeping a very close eye on her.

"Are you ok?" Sam asked as soon as her car disappeared around the corner, and Dean shook his head.

"Sammy, I know you want to talk about it, and I actually know I need to talk about it, but not yet ok little brother? I need to try and figure it all out first." He told him, but contrary to what Sam expected there was no anger, just pain and confusion.

Sam nodded hesitantly.

"Ok, I just want to know you're ok, and that you can talk to me." He said, and Dean grinned slightly.

"I don't really have much choice but to talk to you, you're all I've got. I feel bad for Marion. You reckon he is alright with this?" he asked and Sam frowned pensively.

"I don't know. He wishes none of this had happened of course he does, but I reckon he actually is, well, he will be alright with all this." He mused, and Dean nodded to see his brother looking at him worriedly, making Dean roll his eyes.

"Sammy, give it a rest ok? I'll talk when I'm good and ready." He assured him, and for once, Sam actually believed him, before he sighed and sat down on the hood of the Impala.

"We have another problem." He pointed out and Dean sat down beside his brother, sighing wearily himself.

"Yeah, apparently our maniac killers are legion, and they have an angel and a yellow eyes leading them, along with a freaking type of demon we've never heard of before." He recounted, and Sam nodded.

"Yep. The Perpurigo. Got to tell you, as heaven and hell's clean up crew, they kind of suck." He commented and Dean grinned.

"Tell me about it. Reckon Cas knows anything about them?" he asked carefully, gauging his brother's reaction, and Sam just shrugged.

"I don't know, it isn't like he stuck around to ask him is it?" he asked, and Dean looked at him in genuine curiosity.

"You're still not all aboard the Cas train are you? I'm not having a go at you, I'm just curious. I get why you're not on the Benny train, that makes sense, but Cas..."

Sam shrugged.

"I don't know Dean, I mean I know he's our friend, but you yourself said something is off with him, look at the way he executed Samandiriel. I hate myself for feeling this way but I can't really help it you know? Something isn't right with him, even you admit that, and I'm afraid that it'll just lead to him biting us in the ass again. He's done it before, and I'm just worried he'll do it again." He said, and Dean shrugged.

"Actually, I suppose that's kind of fair. And you're right, there is something off with him. But hey, on the bright side, we do know something about these guys now, that's something." He said, sounding fairly cheerful.

"Yeah. So when we get home, we can start looking for stuff on all of them. And we can get the others to start looking too." He said, and Dean nodded.

"Then there's the other thing we need to think about. Which is how the hell did we escape Ember," he said, before Sam clipped him on the ear.

"Ow! Why'd you do that?" Dean demanded irritably, and Sam shot him a bemused look.

"Maybe because your insane hellbitch ex nearly killed us all and slaughtered half a town." He complained, and he grinned ruefully.

"Yeah, suppose that's kind of fair. In my defence how the hell was I meant to know she was a frigging demon, let alone a bloody yellow eyed one?" he demanded and Sam shook his head, deciding to ignore the how he was meant to know that she was indeed a yellow eyes.

"Yeah I thought we were done with them when you offed Azazel. And on top of her and her angel buddies, now we've got a new type of demon to worry about too." He said resentfully, and Dean nodded wearily.

"Yeah I suppose you're right. So, you can hit the books and I'll do the ring round and let everyone know what's going on. But there's something else too Sammy." He said and Sam nodded.

"Yeah, someone got us out of there that wasn't Cas. Meaning we don't have a clue who the hell it was, which means there's a good chance whoever the hell it is will come back and bite us in the ass." He said tiredly, and Dean nodded.

"Yeah. Great. Hey, least we're alive to wonder about it huh? Come on Sasquatch, lets get you back to your library." He said, getting to his feet, and Sam frowned worriedly as his brother got back up.

A powerful group was after them and wanted them dead. A yellow eyed and blue eyed demon were two of the biggest hitters these guys had. The yellow eyed demon had nearly torched his brother to death, the same way her cousin had killed their mother and Jess. Marion had resigned and Tyers was going to be after them just as hard as she was before. And what was more, Cas was still not right and something kept protecting them which in their cases usually meant they were just keeping them alive so they could endure more shit later on.

Yeah their lives were great fun.

"Hey come on Hermione, you've got books to read." Dean called from inside the car and Sam shot him a dirty look as he got into the car, making Dean grin.

"Bitch." He teased, and Sam scowled affectionately.

"Jerk."

**And here we are, finished another story.**

**Sorry this took so long to finish, that's part of the reason I'm taking a break from Supernatural, I'll play with two more stories in the meantime before we return for the fourth story.**

**Speaking of the fourth story, we have things to resolve. How will Dean deal with his near death experience at the hands of Ember? Who killed Niandra? Will knowing more about the Perpurigo help them stop it? And just what intermediary does Kerubiel have in mind?**

**And speaking of him, he's one of the three mysterious people in the Perpurigo, but who is his puppet master and who is the one who's silently waiting for the entire group to explode?**

**For those of you who are worried, we definitely havent seen the last of Marion, he will be back I promise.**

**And since we're now taking a break, how do you fancy a mid season trailer?**

**Still to come...**

**A new monster plagues Sam and Dean, Gabriel's legacy affects the boys and Sam in particular in ways no one could have anticipated, two new monster allies are made, new hunters are to come, a very persuasive person takes up the bounty on the boys, Muellers plans accelerate and we have a tour of the boys various sexual conquests!**

**All this is still to come, so until I've updated Battlestar and Digimon, farewell for now and please leave pretty reviews!**


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